Imitation Black
by tysunkete
Summary: AU. Lavi has two professions. Internationally renowned photographer of Japan's top model Kanda Yuu and matchmaker for his designer cousin, Reiichi. Too bad Reiichi doesn't like models. Project Runaway-ness. KandaOC
1. Chapter 1

_EDITED: 13/07/2011_

After writing the whole story, the first chapter just pissed me off a lot for some reason…Oh well.

* * *

_Title_: Imitation Black  
_Fandom_: D Gray Man  
_Characters/Pairings_: KandaOC, LaviYuu  
_Summary_: AU. Lavi has two professions: Internationally renowned photographer of Japan's top model Kanda Yuu and matchmaker for his designer cousin, Reiichi. Too bad Reiichi doesn't like models. KandaOC

* * *

Don't take this fic too seriously. No, really. Enjoy.

* * *

_What has love, _

_got to do,_

_got to do,_

_with it._

A car screeched as it turned sharply into the school car park, catching the attention of some students who were running late for class just as the bell rang. The cool black of the metal shone rebelliously as it took up a private lot - the principal's no less. Did it care? I think not. The Lamborghini hummed as it died down, and the door clicked open. A leather boot placed its first step almost gingerly on the ground as if testing the waters, but this Prada studded shoes were made to shine. The owner of the said shoes wasn't any less.

He, was made to shine.

Slamming the door shut in an almost suave manner, this man flicked his shoulder blade length professionally cared hair back, as though it was a dramatic effect of an afterthought. People stopped and stared. Some dropped their books. Pushing a pair of Chanel sunglasses onto his pretty face, he entered the campus, the only sound audible was the click of his heels as he strode.

Pushing the door of the General Office open, he approached the counter.

"Do I need a pass?" a deep husky voice vibrated through the air. A deep blue eye centered on the secretary, a cool gaze settled.

A slow shake of the head was given. After all, if you had been briefed for a hundred and one times that Japan's number one supermodel was coming on campus and please-submit-to-his-every-request-unless-you-want-to-be-fired but nothing, nothing, can really prepare you for the real thing right in front of your eyes.

"E-enjoy yo-our-r vis-si-it, K-ka-kanda-sama."

Kanda. Kanda Yuu. Aged 20, but already one of the house names in the modelling industry. Needless to say... he's incredibly rich. And incredibly good looking.

He chose not to answer but instead was already out of the glass door. He had matters to attend to, after all.

The hallways were empty as the first lesson bell rang. However, heads poked out of windows and doors. Whisperings increased as he drew near to each classroom.

"Did you hear? They say Kanda-sama is in our school! At this moment!"

"Kanda-sama? As, as, as in, _KANDA YUU_?"

"Idiot, is there any other Kandas you know? I hear he's scouting for his next project."

"Project? You mean the one with photographer Lavi-sama?"

"Yeah. Seems like Lavi-sama wants to shoot a fashion spread from one of the designers on campus, but Kanda-sama gets to choose whose collection it is."

"I'd kill for a chance like that."

"Who wouldn't?"

Sitting at a corner, a girl rolled her eyes and sighed. "Definitely not me."

Reiichi. Kuroshi Reiichi. Aged 19, Year One. Majoring in fashion design, and well, thinks Kanda Yuu is overrated.

.

.

.

That is, until she discovered for herself how overrated he really was. Who says supermodels were _not_ arrogant and bitchy?

* * *

Fangirls. Kanda hates fangirls. But it's ironic how he owes his career to his fans, his status, his arrogance, his bitchy attitude (well, somewhat)... all from his adoring fans that were currently trying to molest him to hell.

He didn't push them away roughly since Kanda Yuu _did_ have some respect for girls and generally remained polite to them. But this was just pushing it. Without security to form that parting of the red sea, he was swamped, literally.

Oh wait, was that someone groping his ass?

Kanda really wanted to punch someone.

"Kanda-sama, I absolutely loved your cover on _Vogue_ magazine—"

"—no way. His shoot in Hawaii was definitely better—"

"Kanda-sama, would you like to—"

"Kanda-sa—"

"Kan—"

_The next person who squeals my name is so dead._

"KANDA-SAMA," this time, an obviously lower pitched voice yelled over the commotion. "WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?"

The hallways silenced. Crickets chirped. Girls stared in anticipation. Here was it, the ever astounding question of _Are you gay?_ was posted flat on his face.

Kanda flicked his hair back habitually (some fainted), and pulled off his Chanel glasses. He stared coolly at his uh, date prospect, a boy with sandy brown hair whose eyes sparkled in hope. Slowly, his lips curved slightly at the tips, and eventually formed a smirk.

"Kanda-sama?" the boy took one step closer.

Kanda smirked deeper and strode forward.

He cracked his knuckles.

"Kand—"

And punched him solid.

"Che," Kanda grunted non-committedly and sauntered off as though nothing took place. Well, at least that released some frustration.

* * *

"Did you hear? Poor Murakami got rejected!"

"Well, serves him right for asking _Kanda Yuu_, of all people."

"That punch was way cool."

"Yeah! It was lik-"

SLAM.

"If you girls want to gossip, go _out_," A girl slammed her hand on the desk.

"What's wrong with you, Kuroshi? Bad day?"

"Yes," she grounded out. "Ever since he stepped in I've been hearing his name non-stop. So what if he's a famous supermodel? So what if he's incredibly rich? So what if he came here to scout for his next project? It isn't like any of us year ones will be picked anyway."

"Aww, aren't you just jealous?"

"Jealous? Of what?"

"Of—"

"Girls, boys, quiet!" Yukina-sensei shushed them. "Kanda-san has just requested to view your portfolios because apparently, the year twos and threes were all rejected."

Whispers excitedly rose in the room.

"Report to the work room with all your work pieces displayed and work portfolio spread out. Kanda-san wants this…_quickly done and over with_, to quote him."

* * *

"First," Kanda propped himself on the teacher's desk (it looked like he was posing). "No squealing. We're all professionals here. Second, don't bother to sell yourself. Third, just don't talk. Are we clear?"

Heads nodded vigorously. The crisp tone made everyone sit up and shut up. But the idea of the possibility of working with _the Kanda Yuu_ caused a girl to betray herself as she squeaked, almost immediately slapping a hand over her mouth when Kanda's glare shot towards her. She could say goodbye to her chance. Kanda Yuu wasn't in a good mood. After all, if you had been groped a hundred and one times just by being in the campus for two hours, you'd be pretty pissed.

God knows why Lavi wanted to pick a designer from this school. Sure, this campus was renowned for its contribution to the fashion industry –Lavi graduated from here. But from the collection he had seen on the year threes and twos, the supposed seniors, they were... boring. Each had their own style and was all top class well made. But somehow while Kanda knew he'd be wearing those brands in the near future, none of them felt special enough to be chosen as the collection _he_ was going to portray. There was nothing different about the pretty pieces of art he wore every day.

Kanda approached the first girl in the row and swept a critical eye over her pieces. Her style was more girly and frilly, and she clearly had forte in the women's department. A miss. The guy next to her, likewise, definitely had potential for women's wear, though; his menswear collection was not too bad either. His style was more simple and classic, something with Kanda liked. But again, he stuck to one style too much. Boring.

After rounding three more rows, Kanda was starting to give up. Sure, he had nodded in approval for some, but none of the entire portfolio caught his eye. Approaching the last girl in the fourth row nearest to the window, he felt an incoming sense of irritation stemming from the girl. He quirked an eyebrow. This was interesting.

This girl had her back defiantly against him, which was odd in itself. She didn't even acknowledge him as he walked to her displayed mannequins. Ignoring the abnormality, he slowly flipped through her file and was... mildly impressed.

This girl... Kuroshi Reiichi...didn't have a fixed style. She did everything. From glamour to street wear to high class fashion. But one thing that made her works scream her own, was that she melded the tones of male and female together. Interesting. Very, interesting.

"Oi, what's your name?"

"It's on the cover, or are you blind?"

Someone dropped a mannequin in the front row.

Did she just…_insult_…him?

"Oh. My. God. Tell me Reiichi didn't just…"

"Is that girl trying to curse herself?"

Kanda stood shocked for a moment. He was used to girls at his every beck and call. Not insulting him. Slowly, he smirked. "Well, Kuroshi, you're it."

A deafening silence screamed throughout the class as everyone stood rock still.

"WHAT? WHY DID REIICHI GET CHOSEN? SHE'S NOT EVEN ONE OF THE TOP!" a girl screeched.

"KANDA-SAMA, ARE YOU SURE YOU'VE LOOKED PROPERLY? I MEAN ON MY PAGE TWENTY, I'M SURE THIS STYLE WOULD FIT YOU PERF—"

"KANDA-SAMA, THIS PORTFOLIO WAS ENTIRELY MADE WITH YOU AS THE MODEL IN MIND, I—"

"SHUT. THE. HELL. _UP_." Kanda slammed his hand on the work desk. "I, call the shots here. If I say she's it, she's it. Anyone has a fucking problem with that?"

Everyone widened their eyes in fear and no one dared to move.

"Actually, I do," the girl, Reiichi, spoke up. Heads turned to cast her jealous looks. "You didn't even ask me if I wanted this. Read this: I _don't_."

Kanda regarded her coolly. She had shoulder length flaming red hair, and emerald eyes that seethed with annoyance. Her sense of dress style… to put it bluntly, was bad. For a designer, it was utterly boring and obviously last minute put together. A crumpled shirt hidden by a vest, plus a skirt and converse. She wore no makeup either, and he could tell she probably spent five minutes dressing herself in the morning. Pathetic.

Crinkling his nose slightly, "You look horrible. As a first rule, you are to dress yourself as well as you dre—"

"Wait a moment, Kanda-san. Who are you to give me orders?"

"Your employer."

"Bullshit. I don't work for you."

"Yes you do. Lavi won't take no for an answer."

"Oh, so it's _Lavi_. Figures."

Reiichi rolled her eyes and set to keep her materials. Of course, he was here on _Lavi's_ request.

Kanda blinked for a good moment. _Lavi? What has that stupid rabbit got to do with anything?_ Unless...that red hair and green eyes felt familiar. But knowing Lavi for a good six years, there's no way he wouldn't have known someone related to him, right?

A girl with perfectly manicured fingernails dragged one along the desks as she sauntered over and curled her blonde hair.

"Kanda-sama," her high pitched voice gave Kanda the chills. "We all know Rei-chan is Lavi-sama's cousin. Lavi-sama assured this would be a fair competition to all, didn't he? Surely he can't be thinking of… she gasped in mock horror, "unfairly giving this chance to his cousin, could he?"

"Reiichi's... Lavi-sama.. as in, photographer _Lavi's_ cousin?"

"They're related? No freaking way!"

"Huh. No wonder she has come so far with her mediocre results..."

The death glare Reiichi was giving to that blonde did Kanda somewhat proud. "You want to lose your voice box, don't you, Matsumoto?"

Then it hit him.

"You…You…YOU'RE THAT FUCKING '_REI-CHAN'_ HE NEVER SHUTS UP ABOUT!"

"Do you think he shuts up about _you_?" she sighed. "It's always Yuu-chan this, Yuu-chan that. Yuu-chan is so hot and perfect," she mocked voiced Lavi. "I'm more scared of the fact that he likes you to such a scary extent. I mean, come on, it's not that you're _that_ good looking. And for a model, you sure don't have much expressions. Only pissed off and angry. Oh wait, those mean the same thing, my bad."

Reiichi was oblivious to the audience, which was a good thing, because majority of them wanted to strangle her.

A strong hand gripped around her neck and she couldn't breathe. "Say it again," Kanda stared with cool anger and tightened his grip.

Oddly enough, the girl didn't even protest, but instead aimed a kick at the place where light doesn't shine. Thankfully for Kanda, his sharp reflexes caught the movement and he released her roughly.

"Don't fucking _test_ me."

The door to the work room opened and Yukina-sensei stepped in. "Kanda-san, have you decided?"

She surveyed the tense atmosphere in the room, with killer intents directed at Reiichi and Reiichi's murderous look at Kanda Yuu.

"What happened?"

"Nothing important," Kanda dismissed her off. "Kuroshi Reiichi, she's it." He tossed her name, and left the room, leaving Yukina-sensei to scramble after him.

"Are you sure, Kanda-sama? I'm sure there are lots of other more talented designers at your disposal. Well, Kuroshii Reiichi has her own quirks but her designs are sort of a hit and miss, you might want to reconsi—"

"Are you doubting my judgment?" Kanda spoke in an extremely condescending tone.

"Er—no, my apologies, I did not mean to question your ability, but I—"

"Enough. I want her. Get the paperwork ready by tomorrow."

Kanda headed straight for his car and left the campus immediately.

* * *

Reiichi rubbed her neck. Models, models. All of them _had_ to be arrogant and proud, and she absolutely _hated_ pricks like so—most of all, _Kanda Yuu_.

She didn't want to be chosen. In fact, she didn't think she'd even be given a passing glance. In The Black Academy, designers here were usually propelled into stardom after graduation. This school focused on grooming designers for the elite fashion. However for someone like her, this worked to her disadvantage as teachers usually regarded her works as of lower class, being inspired by street fashion. She wanted to make clothes that were wearable, not some runway work of art.

Having Lavi was also troublesome. She came this far on her own, and she wanted to go further on _her_ own. That was why many never knew her relationship with the genius photographer until Matsumoto opened her big mouth. Although her cousin had begged and pleaded for a chance for him to give her a little push, but she stamped her feet down and refused. She was going to break in the market with her own talent fair and square, not by riding on coattails.

That was why she fumed when Kanda brought up Lavi. If Kanda chose her own his own accord, it'd be a small victory, even if the said person was a downright rude and annoying bastard. But because of Lavi, she had never felt so insulted in her life.

She'd have to talk to Lavi, once and for all.

* * *

"Yuu-chan~! How did it go~~~~~~" Lavi jumped excitedly when he saw Kanda enter his studio.

"Do you have a death wish, you asshole?" Kanda shrugged off the hug Lavi was trying to smash him with and pushed him far away. "By the way, your bitch of a cousin wa—OUCH WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?"

"Don't _ever_ address her as such, Yuu," Lavi spoke seriously. "Even I place her above anybody else and you know that."

"Che, whatever," Kanda evaluated Lavi. He wasn't joking about the name calling. "This…cousin, of yours. The one whom you never shut up about to me, the one who _somehow_ is that stupid school, and _somehow_ in the design faculty, and _somehow_ gets chosen by me, and _som_-"

"There, there, Yuu-chan, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Lavi grinned and took one of his cameras to fiddle.

Kanda was speechless for a moment. Realization dawned. "You planned this. You knew I was going to pick her."

"Of course," Lavi didn't miss a heartbeat even as he took test shots at Kanda. He was picture perfect as usual. "I know your fashion taste, buddy. Rei-chan's vision fits you perfectly. Unlike 99% of the students there, we didn't come from elite households who had enough dough. You didn't, I didn't, she didn't. We have the same dream."

Kanda wasn't even aware that he _had_ a dream. "You're insane," he finally snorted.

"When am I ever not? Now tilt your head back a bit Yuu-chan, give the camera your sexy look," Lavi grinned and beckoned.

Kanda complied on reflex, slipping that look when he used his sexual advantage to get his way.

"Ohh yeahhh baby, more intense, Yuu-chan, the camera's seduceddddd," Lavi sang, snapping pictures away.

Dragging tongue slowly across his lips, Kanda moved closer and gave that predatory look. In a second, the camera was out of Lavi's hands and he inspected his own pictures. Yup, still the sexist man alive. Kanda just didn't get how she insulted his looks. It was not humanly possible!

"Rei-chan said '_it's not that you're __**that**__ good looking'_," Lavi mimicked her. "Am I right?" Lavi nearly fell laughing when Kanda glared at him. "Don't worry babe, you're still hot."

Kanda rolled his eyes and handed back the camera.

"She prefers –"

At this moment, Lavi's annoying cell phone rang.

_Under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, e-_

"Moshi moshi~ REI-CHAN!" Lavi switched it to speaker, motioning Kanda to be quiet. "I heard you got picked by Yuu-chan! Isn't that so awesome?"

_"…Lavi. Do you respect me?"_

"Rei-chan…what do you mean?"

_"I asked, do you _bloody_ respect me or not?"_

"Of course! You're my cousin, my only kin, my-"

_"Then why did you ask Kanda-san to choose me?"_

"…I didn't," Lavi gave a sidelong look to Kanda.

_"You did. Kanda-san said so himself."_

"Look, Rei-chan, I only told him to pick collection any he wants. And _he_ chose _you_. Not me."

_"Even s,o Lavi, I'm not going to accept."_

"Why? Come on Rei-chan. So what if I am your cousin? If I _wasn't_ your cousin, you'd agree to this contract, wouldn't you?"

_"...Yes."_

"So I am _not_ your cousin at this point in time. I am prodigy photographer Lavi Bookman. My model Kanda Yuu chose your collection. And _you_, Kuroshi Reiichi, _are_ going to accept."

"Kuroshi," Kanda snapped. "If you knew why I chose you, would you stop bitching?"

_"Is that Kanda-san? I'm not bitching."_

"Your works aren't boring."

_"….That's it? Because it's not boring? What the hell, Kanda-san, and I thought you being a model would give you more fashion sense than that."_

"Look who's talking, missus horrible fashion sense. Tomorrow, I expect better, is that clear?"

_"Nope. Not at all."_

"Rei-chan," Lavi mischievously smirked. "The reason why you don't want to accept is because you're afraid Yuu-chan would look _soooo_ good in your clothes that you'd fall in love with him and erase all the bad notions you have of him right? And you absolutely can't live with that because your pride can't live that down, am I right, or am I right?"

"_You're dead wrong_," she deadpanned. "_Even_ _my clothes can't fix Kanda-san's face, I'm sorry_."

"You insufferabl—"

"Prove me wrong then, Rei-chan."

_"I'm not going on some stupid bet with you."_

"Aha! So you _are_ scared. Come on Rei-chan, he's single! And sexy. And good in bed, and—OWWW! Okay, okay, hold your horses Yuu-chan, I know you want me, but not that badly s— OWWWWWWWWW—"

"I'm coming tomorrow, that's final."

_Line disconnected._

* * *

**Owa****ri.**

Has anyone read **moonlit. nocturne**'s _Diamonds in Wine_? Before someone points it out to me, I would like to acknowledge that the names _Rei_and _Matsumoto_are also used in this fic. I am very much a fan of **moonlit. nocturne**'s DGM fics, but I stand by using those names. The beginning was written last year after I read **Novelist Pup**'s _The Incredible You_ which was quite a while before I discovered _Diamonds in Wine. _


	2. Chapter 2

Here is chapter two of Imitation Black. I would like to say first off that I do not know anything about the fashion industry. I also do not know anything of the modeling industry, the photography industry, etc. I have not studied in design school, I do not read fashion magazines, I do not know what the latest trends are, I do not claim to know what professional critics think. All this is written based purely on my imagination.

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

At six in the evening a knock sounded on Reiichi's dorm door. She paused in reading her comic –it was the climax dammit- but the knocks seemed to get more impatient as she strode to the door. Looking through the peephole she recognized the school's vice principal, Howard Link.

"Good evening, Link-sensei," she always liked Link because he was fair and understanding, unlike the principal, Malcolm C. Leverrier. That man was outright snobbish and rude. She seriously wondered how much Leverrier actually cared about the students in the school as compared to its reputation. The fact that he sent Link to do most his dirty work said a lot.

"Sorry about that Kuroshi-kun but I'm in a hurry," He explained.

She nodded.

"You seem to have been chosen to partake Lavi and Kanda-san's project," he smiled but Reiichi kept a blank expression. "Congratulations. Come to meeting room two on the second level at 2 p.m. tomorrow. We'll be discussing the details of your attachment."

"Alright, thank you."

Link paused, and then looked her at concernedly. "Kuroshi-kun, the choice is entirely up to you. I know how much you don't want to be associated with Lavi, but this could give you more experience than our school can give you of the real world. Think about it."

He smiled encouragingly and retreated back down the corridor. Reiichi closed her dorm door and wandered back to her desk. She stared at the corkboard in front of her, full of random pictures of various fashion pieces she adored, of various models, of her friends back at home, of her family, of Lavi, and finally focused on the one picture that made Lavi what he was today.

It was Kanda. It was probably about 4 years ago when Lavi won a critically acclaimed award for shooting that photograph. It was back in his high school years at age 16 when he was merely fiddling about with photography because he had nothing to do. It was their school's Kendo finals, and the Kanda wiped the floor with the opponent's ass in a mere minute. It was a landslide victory, one that loosened Kanda enough to give in on his friend's begging to pose for him.

She should know – Lavi loved to tell the story.

Kanda's hair was loosely tied at the nape of his neck, some strands messily framing his face in an artistic like manner. He had his bokken in hand, pointing to the camera with a smug smirk. Anyone could tell Kanda was happy. Or rather, extremely proud and ecstatic with himself. It was how delicate Lavi captured Kanda's emotion onto film, together with the soft tones that seemed to glow around Kanda in his victory that made this photo breathtaking and different.

Reiichi had to admit it was one of those photos where she just had to smile at.

It wasn't that she hated Kanda or anything, but she just felt that he was too popular. Popularity always made everything so cliché. Sure he had a pretty face, but all that meant was an easy ride for him in the industry. There were people who worked hard to earn their status and jobs. She greatly admired people who were able to handle fame with their humble attitude. It seemed like Kanda had proven her initial assumption of him not able to do that when he opened his mouth. It was disappointing.

But then again, some of the models she had worked with also had the same sort of douchebag behavior. She shouldn't have expected anything less.

Sighing, Reiichi flipped back to her comic book. She'd think about it tomorrow.

* * *

Seated safely inside his black Lamborghini, Kanda mentally congratulated himself. Yes, it was the right choice to stay in the car. He and Lavi had arrived in the school early –because Kanda hates tardiness- but he remembered his horrific molestation the last time he was here. He opted to remain hidden unless necessity called. Though, students were already gathering at the foyer watching if he was going to step out. Nope. He was going to stay in.

Lavi had ditched him the moment he arrived on campus, saying something about greeting, correction, annoying the hell out of, his vice principal. Which was fine by him to enjoy the peace and quiet.

1 50 p.m.

Kanda glanced at the steadily growing crowd. 5 more minutes.

Suddenly there was a loud commotion. Screams and shrieks could be heard, even from inside his car. A red head emerged from the crowd and ran up to his car. Lavi.

"Hey Yuu, it's time," he knocked on the windscreen.

Kanda reluctantly stepped out, wincing when the screams increased dramatically. Lavi was snickering openly, mock bowing to Kanda and gesturing the way for His Highness. Kanda merely rolled his eyes and swiftly decked him on the head, pulling his collar to drag him along. Putting on his usual confident look, he sauntered through the crowd as the crowd unconsciously parted for him.

A girl tried to block his way.

"Kan-"

"No, I'm busy," He didn't bother to acknowledge her, but she stood in awe of the fact that_ the_ _Kanda Yuu_ actually spoke to her. Even if it wasn't actually a conversation.

Reaching the meeting room, Kanda didn't bother to knock and strode swiftly in.

"Rei-chan~" Lavi skipped to her upon spotting her seated at the table. He hugged her tightly. "I haven't seen you in such a long time!"

"Well, I saw you last week," she retorted, but allowed the hug anyway.

Link coughed, bringing their attention back to matters at hand. Lavi and Kanda sat down on the remaining two seats.

"Good afternoon Lavi and Kanda-san. I'm L-"

"Link. Didn't I see you just two minutes ago?" Lavi raised an eyebrow.

"I was doing it for the benefit of Kanda-san, Lavi." Link sighed exasperatedly but made no move to try introductions again.

"It has come to my attention that Kuroshi Reiichi has been chosen, am I correct?" The man seated in front of them with a moustache started. "Are you sure you have made the right choice? I'm sure this_ girl _is not representative of the talent we have here in the Black Academy."

"Yes, Malcolm," Lavi rolled his eyes. "Don't make Yuu repeat himself or he'll get angry."

"It's still Mr Leverrier to you, Lavi," Leverrier drawled. "Are you sure you aren't just choosing her because of her… relations…to you?"

Kanda was starting to get ticked off. He came here to finalize the contract and get it done and over with, not banter on whether anyone believed his choice or not. Reiichi's hands tightened into a fist two seats away. He could tell she was extremely tempted to hit Leverrier.

"Look, I'm not the one who chose her okay," Lavi stood up, voice flat. "Yuu chose her. He has never met her before yesterday and he chose her based on the portfolio he saw. That's all."

"But Reiichi's works are not made for high fashion," The woman next to Leverrier whom Kanda recognized as Reiichi's teacher tried to put in her two cents worth.

"Who says we _wanted_ high fashion?" Lavi coolly countered.

There was silence and Lavi knew he got them.

"Well then, what are your terms?" Leverrier placed his hands in front of him.

"We borrow her for seven week-"

"The end year assessment is in three weeks. She cannot be excused from curriculum." Yukina-sensei interrupted.

"She needs the time to prepare for each shoot. There's no way she can do it if she is not excused."

"The end year assessment is important," Leverrier cut in. "_Especially_ since she did not do well for her mid years."

"Che," Kanda stood up and headed for the doorway. "Tell me if you guys are done arguing, you're wasting my time."

Lavi grabbed his wrist before he was out the door and sat him back down. "No, Yuu, _we're_ done arguing."

"This is our terms. We need Rei-chan for seven weeks. Each week she will prepare a shoot based on a theme, and the shots will be published under our company, Innocence's magazine, Mugen. You know who reads our magazine. Whether Rei-chan has talent or not will be decided by critics all over the world, not by you. We don't ask for anything else from the school. We _don't _need it."

"Still, th-"

"I'll do them both alright?" Reiichi spoke up. She was sick and tired of them talking as if she wasn't there. "If it pleases you Yukina-sensei I will get my final year piece done and come to class when I can."

"But Rei-chan, it's a lot of work, a-"

"I think it's an excellent idea," Leverrier smirked. "It's very common in the industry to be handling various projects at one go."

Lavi looked like he wanted to say something but Reiichi grabbed his arm. She smiled faintly at him and he relaxed a little.

"Fine. Yuu, where's the contract?" He turned to Kanda, who was staring off into the distance, obviously not listening. He snapped his fingers. "Yuu…"

Kanda blinked, and then scowled. He had wasted nearly 20 minutes just hearing the idiots talk. He reached into his tailor made pants and pulled out his touch screen phone, putting it on the table.

"Just press your thumbprint above the line when you've read it," Lavi chirped cheerily, handing it to Reiichi.

Reiichi quirked an eyebrow at the odd medium, but nonetheless took the gadget and scrolled down the terms and conditions. It entitled her free reign of Lavi's studio and as much capital as she needed for her shoots, including the service of Cross Enterprise. That was impressive. She pressed her thumb on the screen and passed it to Link. The cycle continued until everyone had touched the phone and it was handed back to Kanda.

"Well then," Lavi smiled and clapped his hands together. "I'm bringing Rei-chan back to the studio with me. Ta-ta~"

And proceeded to drag Reiichi out of the room along with him.

"Lavi.." Reiichi smiled. "Thanks for back there."

"Anything for you," He grinned back. "I'm glad you didn't reject the offer after all. I was quite scared that you would."

"I…decided to give myself a chance," her lips pursed grimly.

Lavi nodded and hugged her again. "You're so cute~"

"Stop cuddling together, it's disgusting," they looked up to see Kanda glaring at them. "I want to get out of here."

"Yes, your highness," Reiichi sarcastically rolled her eyes.

Lavi whopped in laughter.

* * *

"When you get in, don't touch anything," was the first thing Kanda said to her.

Reiichi sniffed. "I have to touch the seat, don't I?" Sometimes Kanda said really stupid things.

"Don't act smart with me," was all he retorted before slipping in into the driver's seat.

Lavi joyfully ushered her into the back seat, seating himself next to her. "Don't you love his car Rei-chan?" His hands stroking the leather seats lovingly. "It even smells like him."

There was a pregnant pause and both the driver and the female passenger spluttered.

"Usagi, why have you been _smelling_ my seats- you know what, you get out. Now."

"This is beyond weird." Reiichi commented, looking at her cousin in a different light. In a bad way.

Lavi sighed dramatically. "Sheesh, can't you people take a joke?"

Fifteen minutes later…

"Hey Rei-chan, do you have a boyfriend?"

"No, I told you that last week."

"Do yo-"

"No. Lavi."

"D-"

"No. No. No. No."

"…"

"And no."

"I didn't even say anything!"

"I can read your mind."

"Really?"

"No."

"You're no fun."

"That's because you keep asking every single time we meet."

"Yuu, do you h-"

"Shut up usagi, or I'll crash the car."

Lavi pouted. It was still a long ride to the studio and he was getting bored. Because he chose to sit behind with Reiichi, he couldn't fiddle with the stereo.

He tugged at the seatbeat strapped across his body. "Rei-chan, how's Jonathan?"

Reiichi blinked. "Who's Jonathan?"

"You know," Lavi motioned. "Your boyfriend?"

Reiichi sighed. Not this again. This happened every single time when Lavi got bored, and Lavi got bored _easily_. "Because despite your photographic memory, you really cannot remember sounds. I just said it a few seconds ag-"

"So how's he?" Lavi went on, clearly unfazed.

The designer didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I don't know a Jonathan. At all."

"It's Jacob, then, am I right?"

"No."

"Don't be shy Rei-chan, it's definitely Joshua. He's the guy in your class that you like right?"

Reiichi couldn't stop an amused expression from the absurdness of it all. "Will you stop giving me random non-Japanese names and why do they all start with the letter J?"

"Come on, I even met Joshua," the male red head continued smoothly.

"There isn't anyone in my class who's named Joshua."

"Yes there is."

Sometimes logic never worked for her cousin. Actually, logic never worked, period. "You know him and I don't, even if he's_ supposedly _my boyfriend because…."

"H-"

"Will you two just shut the fuck up?" The irritated model snapped from the front. "My ears are going to bleed from your nonsensical yapping."

Lavi's grin widened further, if that was even possible. "Now Yuu-chan, don't be jealous…"

"Are you out of your mind usagi? What's there to be jealous about?" Kanda spat, though sounding genuinely confused.

Lavi quietened down for a moment, but perked up suddenly.

"If it's not a J then it's a K! Aha! It's Kanda, isn't it Rei-chan?"

"What kind of stupid logic i-"

"WHAT?" Kanda whipped around angrily, trying to grab Lavi just so he can hit him.

"Kanda-san, the car in fr-"

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SA-"

"I AM RIGHT!" Lavi shouted with glee. "YOU'RE SO DEFENSIVE, IT'S SO CUT-"

"KANDA-SAN, LOO-"

"USAGI STOP SQUIRMING SO THAT I CAN KILL YO-"

"KANDA!" Reiichi screamed over the commotion. "EYES ON THE ROAD! YOU ARE GOING TO HIT THAT TRUCK!"

Kanda turned back to the wheel, swerving narrowly to avoid an incoming truck. He roughly cut back into the right lane, earning the wrath of some honks from cars behind.

"Yeah well, fuck you too," he muttered, but nonetheless kept his eyes on the road.

Reiichi breathed deeply. She was sure she saw her life flashing in front of her eyes. Once feeling more collected, she smacked Lavi on the arm. Hard.

"Owwwww.."

"You of all people should know Kanda-san is a bad driv-"

"Oi, oi. I have perfect driving skills."

"How do you explain the near death experience?"

"Someone annoyed me." He glared through the rear view mirror at the not so innocent Lavi.

Reiichi prayed she would survive the car ride, noting Lavi's random tapping of fingers on the car seat already.

He was starting to get bored again.

* * *

"Usagi…" Kanda growled, flinging his car door open, stomping up to the passenger side and grabbed Lavi to eye level. "You are never sitting in my car again. Ever."

"That's what you always say~" Lavi sang, clearly unfazed.

The model tightened his hold on his neck.

"..c-can't breathe…"

"Tch," Kanda let go of Lavi and stormed to the entrance.

_Innocence__,_ read the big lettering on top of the elegant building. The building was entirely covered with glass, shinning brightly in the sunlight. There were probably about 40 floors in total, with a big fountain outside and various greenery. Kanda had parked his car in one of the reserved spots outside the entrance whose glass doors complimented the whole rich and classy look.

Reiichi stepped out of the car and smiled unsympathetically at Lavi. "It's a wonder how he can stand being with you all these years."

"Why are you siding with him Rei-chan? You fell for him that fast?" The red head glomped her, pulling her towards the entrance.

"No, but from my first impression of Kanda-san, he seems like the type who hates annoying people." Reiichi looked pointedly at Lavi. _Like you. _"Besides his face really isn't anything special. I still don't get the hype."

"That's because you haven't _seen_ his works my dear. I know you always skip his spread in Mugen just because of a biased point of view-"

"It's not biased when the first picture you tried to show me of him scarred me mentally for life-"

"-and you haven't seen him walk on the runway."

"Can't be any different from how he usually walks now."

"You have no idea," Lavi tried to wink at her, but with one eye, it was kind of hard to.

He shoved his pass against the scanning device and let them both in, smiling at the cool air that enveloped them. He gave his customary flirtaous smile to the receptionist and ushered Reiichi towards the elevators. It was the first time his cousin has stepped into his office. Entering the lift, he pressed the button "X".

"What's X?" Reiichi asked curiously.

"Basement. "X" sounds way cooler, don't cha think?"

She hummed but did not comment. "All the other 40 levels are for…?"

"Corporate side. Paperwork. Etc. That reminds me you should meet Komui soon. But my studio's more important."

The doors open, and they came to a white hallway.

"There's everything here that you'll need," Lavi started to ramble excitedly. "First door is the relax room. There's a bed, couch, a tv, bunch of DVDs. Next is the kitchen. The refrigerator's usually not stocked though we always have drinks. The third is my desk, my paperwork and stuff are usually there. Next to mine is Kanda's personal space," he paused. "I have no idea what's in there."

They reached the end of the hallway, and the area opened up into a huge space. Various lighting equipment were faced towards the set in the middle.

"This, is where my magic happens," Lavi grinned. He walked towards the shelf tucked at the left side filled to the brim with magazines. He pulled out a magazine and tossed to it Reiichi. She glanced at the cover curiously. It was the latest issue, one that hasn't been released yet. Not surprisingly, it was Kanda on the cover. She didn't bother to give a second look. Lavi continued.

"That's the models' changing room and the rest room," He pointed to the two doors at the right hand corner.

"Your work space…" he came to the final door at the back. "Is this."

It was fairly large, with two long tables inside. Mannequins were lined up neatly at the side. A closet at the corner showed to have various materials and cloth. Drawers at the back were labeled with the different tools it contained. It was much more comfortable to work in then the puny work space she was offered in school.

"I like it," she smiled.

Lavi sat her on one of the stools. "I hope you enjoy this experience Rei-chan," he beamed sincerely. "But it's a lot of hard work. You have roughly about 5 days to sketch, plan and make the set. On either Thursday or Friday we'll do the shooting. Cross Enterprise will meet you on Tuesdays to discuss the set up. Any questions?"

She shook her head.

"Well then since you're here I'll give you a head start. What I'm planning to is to shoot a series of the interpretation of the seven deadly sins. I'm sure you're familiar with that?"

"Sloth, lust, greed, envy, wrath, gluttony and pride."

"Yeah. And your first theme, is _Lust_."

* * *

**Owari.**

This was totally not supposed to be what I planned for chapter two but I needed the story to flow, hence useless details like the contract. Basically the story just wrote itself. Lavi and Rei's cousin-ship is loosely based on my twin cousins and I.

Initially I wrote only until Kanda threatened to crash the car, then my cousin who is the sister of the twin brothers said this:

_XD No... What Sam and Zack would do is ignore your "no" and proceed to interrogate you on your supposed boyfriend. remember the names? XDDD_

They really tried the J names with me.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I really don't know why, but I haven't even started on my original plotline for chapter two. *facepalm*

Thanks for keeping up with me thus far!

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

7 30 a.m.

The café was still relatively empty, with only a scatter of people seated at the far corners. Freshly brewed coffee was the aroma, together with the scent of newly toasted bread. It smelt delicious, but Reiichi was too tired to savour the atmosphere. She was up all night researching on _Lust_ for her first theme. To her, the general meaning was along the lines of physical attraction, but she had never experienced it before.

It wasn't like she had the time to be attached, because her career is her top priority. It wasn't like she had a pampered childhood like all the other students in her class either. No one would want a girl who had no social standing.

Lavi had been with her ever since she could remember. When she was young, she never questioned why, but slowly she understood his plight without asking. His mother had passed away during his birth, and his father left and never came back. Luckily his mother's sister, her mother, had been generous enough to take him in without question and her family treated him like their own son. She figured Lavi must have not known about his real family until that fateful incident.

When she was age 8 and he age 9, a car accident forced them both to be orphans. Immediately, they were taken to an orphanage and amidst the paperwork, Lavi must have known that her parents were not his parents. Still he treated her the same way he always had been – a protective older brother.

If they were always together, it'd be alright.

That's what they believed in.

Age 10 and he was age 11. Lavi was doing exceptionally well in school. An old man strode through the corridors of the orphanage one day, screening the mass of children playing in the rooms. Lavi and Reiichi were sitting at the corner staring out the window. The old man approached them, and asked Lavi if he would like to be adopted. Both of them refused vehemently. If Lavi was gone, Reiichi didn't know what to do. The old man looked at them cryptically, and then pulled Lavi aside to talk to him privately.

An hour later Lavi came back, eyes shining with determination. _I'm going with him_, he says. Reiichi starts to cry, but he hugs her tight. _I won't leave you. The old man promised to bring me back every week. _

Life was hard. Reiichi cried everyday and her grades started to plummet. The only comfort was that Lavi did come to see her every Saturday, but it wasn't enough. The orphanage felt cold and lonely without him. Lavi would recount what he was doing the past week – studying history, travelling to various places around the world. Reiichi just wanted him back.

Six months passed, and she eventually talked with the other children in the orphanage. They were nice people, but they weren't Lavi. Nonetheless, his absence made her grew up. She matured. She no longer cried and poured her time into studying. Eventually she could enter a fairly prestigious school with a scholarship. Lavi was proud, because he valued education.

Age 13. Reiichi grew to like Bookman, the man who adopted Lavi. She understood Lavi's reasons for accepting the adoption – Lavi just wanted to work hard and give both of them a new life, like what her parents had done for him. Bookman was modest in his day to day life, but he was relatively well off. Lavi was made to choose his own education based on the scholarships he was offered. Lavi was never spolit and made to earn his own spending money, something he never complained about.

One day Lavi babbled on about a new friend he made, someone named Kanda Yuu. The entire day Lavi just rambled on about the new guy. Reiichi smiled, because Lavi seemed happy. But deep inside she wondered if they would still be the same.

Age 15. Lavi came to see her less frequently. He was busy with school life, she knew. So was she. Kanda Yuu was still the thing Lavi talked most about, recounting their crazy school adventures. Lavi bought a camera and showed it to her, declaring that he finally found something he wanted to do. _Having photographic memory is hard_, he says, _because no one else but you remembers the moment you remember in your head for life._

Bookman wasn't happy with his decision, but decided not to intrude.

End of the year, Lavi bounded up to her, grinning like a madman. He shoves a photo into her hands. She looks at it curiously, staring at a Kendo boy. _What's this?_ She asks. A photo of Kanda Yuu. Lavi won critical acclaim for the photo, and he was going to pursue his photography career full time. Reiichi congratulates him, because Lavi just looks so happy.

Lavi bids her farewell after a few hours. Reiichi scrutinizes the photo again. She pocketed it after a few minutes, an idea forming in her head.

Age 17. Reiichi was doodling in her sketch book every day. Lavi sends her a copy of Mugen, a fashion magazine featuring his works weekly. Every week she would see Kanda Yuu on the cover, and every week she would bypass Kanda Yuu's spread no matter who designed his clothes. She didn't want to be reminded that someone else was the one who made Lavi happy.

Age 18. Whilst continuing deeper into fashion design, she grew to be more independent. She relied on Lavi less, and decided to live her own life. She decided to go to Black Academy, where Lavi was graduating and the most prestigious school designers went. She believed she could make it big if she attended the school. School fees were a problem as she could not afford it. Even with her inheritance from her parents, it wasn't enough to cover the expenses. She could go to another college on academic scholarship, but she wanted to do fashion design.

Lavi found out about her plans, and they fought for the first time. He insisted that he pay for her, but she didn't want other people to think that she was riding on coattails. August came, and they were still not speaking to each other. A letter came into the orphanage mailbox and her friends who grew up with her crowded around her as she opened it.

It was the acceptance letter to Black Academy.

Amidst the joyful hugs and screams from her friends, she felt numb. She definitely did not send in her application so it had to be Lavi. She went to Bookman's house, a very rare occasion, and slapped Lavi the moment he opened the door. His eyes were unreadable as he noticed she was holding the acceptance letter. He stepped closer and pulled her into a hug, and Reiichi broke down, crying.

_I sent your portfolio_, he says,_ I just want you to do what you want. Let me support you, like you've done to me throughout the years. _

She went.

All through the years, the thought of getting attached never came to her. She didn't _understand_ lust, how was she going to make a set on lust?

"-and don't hold back Rei-chan. I know you like to make normal comfortable clothing but I want you to go all out this time. No budget fix, just make it awesome and grand," Lavi was saying.

She didn't answer and kept sipping at her hot chocolate, head already switching off.

"Rei-chan, are you listening to me?"

Silence.

"She's a walking zombie today, what are you expecting?" Kanda scoffed from his seat.

Today he was dressed causal. Hair pulled back into a ponytail with a few locks framing his oriental face. He wore a white linen shirt from Armani, sleeves tastefully rolled up and True Religion jeans that fitted nicely on him. Leather shoes kept up his imagine and he wore a choker that highlighted his collarbone. The café employee nearly fainted when she saw him walk in, but hey, that was his job.

He ordered his tea, feeling not particularly hungry. "Tell me why I am here," he demanded. He didn't want to go out on his off day. He had planned to stay at home and meditate, or perhaps do a bit of workout.

"We're _bonding_, of course," Lavi said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't need to be here," Kanda sneered, preparing to leave but Lavi gripped him tight.

"Come on Yuu-chan. You're supposed to get to know Rei-chan because you're stuck with her for the next seven weeks. You don't want her to make some outfit you don't like, like that piece from the Dolce and Gabbana shoot-"

"That," Kanda spat. "Was a fucking _dress_."

"You wore it anyway," Lavi snickered.

"Shut up," That was a long time ago, and they both knew it. It was before Kanda earned the title of Japan's top model, so a job meant that he couldn't refuse it. No matter how ridiculous the clothing was. He had bitched to Komui an entire month though.

Kanda looked at the dead girl staring into blank space next to him. Honestly, he was starting to regret his choice. She didn't look competent. Donning a plain checkered shirt, skinny jeans and converse was her look today. He had to admit the clothes looked fitting and well made, but perhaps he was expecting something more after looking at her portfolio. It was odd, but she didn't seem to take the same passion she had designing and making clothes as dressing herself. He thought designers always used themselves as a platform to express their artwork.

He snapped his fingers in front of her, and she merely looked at him. Kanda looked back at Lavi and gave him an 'I told you so' look.

"Rei-chan, why are you so tired?" Lavi munched enthusiastically on his croissant. "It's the new morning! A new day!"

"…research," she mumbled.

"What for?" Lavi asked dumbly, earning a whack from Kanda.

"The theme, obviously." The model snorted, rolling his eyes. "You can tell that she doesn't have a whit of experience on _lust_."

"Thanks for affirming my innocence, Kanda-san," Reiichi sarcastically added in. "Just because I've never wanted anyone doesn't mean it's a bad thing."

"You're still a child then," Kanda smirked.

"Hey," she was starting to feel defensive. "I don't believe in screwing people I don't know, unlike you with zero morals."

Kanda was about to retort back but Lavi grabbed Reiichi's shoulders looking horrified.

"I'M SORRY REI-CHAN!" He wailed. "I HAVE UNKNOWINGLY CORRUPTED YOUR INNOCENCE!"

"Lavi, shut up!" She hissed, noting at the people in the café were staring at them. "Why did you have to choose _lust _as the first theme anyway?"

"…well… I thought it was the easiest theme…" he rubbed his head sheepishly. "'Cause Yuu-chan usually does sexy shoots so it's easy for him as well…"

Kanda tched, but didn't deny it.

Reiichi was more fixated on something else Lavi said.

"Lavi... why do you call him that girly nickname?"

"It's… cute?" Lavi blinked. "Why can't I call him that?"

"It's…" she glanced at Kanda, a small amused smirk forming on her face. "…nothing."

Kanda caught her look and fixed her a glare. "It's because the usagi won't stop no matter that I do," He growled. "Stop thinking whatever you're thinking."

"But I'm not thinking of anything," she blinked at him innocently, but her voice was falsely honey sweet. "If you didn't notice," she really tried to stifle a laugh. "You have a pet name for him too."

"I do not."

"Usagi."

"That's an _insult_."

"Sure doesn't seem like to me. You are just attached to him."

"I am not involved with him."

"I didn't say you were."

Lavi looked back at forth at the arguing pair, with Reiichi keeping her cool façade and Kanda steaming with silent anger. Kanda was turning on his evil eye of doom which Reiichi ignored, matching his own stare with her teasing smirk. Lavi swore he could see sparks fly. This was as good as Kanda arguing with Allen. But the scenario was bad. Reiichi was supposed to like Kanda! Not think that both of them were gay together.

"Come on Yuu-chan, don't you remember last night?"

But Lavi being Lavi, he could never pass up an opportunity to make fun of Kanda.

Kanda's reaction was priceless. He looked extremely mortified and horrified at the same time, too shocked to even think about hitting Lavi. What made it funnier was that Rei-chan had the same face on. It was a good few seconds before Lavi couldn't take it and burst out laughing. Kanda growled and lunged for him, while Lavi anticipated this and jumped out of the way. He ran out of the café, with Kanda hot on his heels.

A few minutes later Kanda sauntered back in with a smug satisfied look and sat down.

"Where's Lavi?" Reiichi questioned.

"On the ground. Preferably in pain," he grunted and took a drink from his cup of tea. It was starting to get thick, so he fished out the teabag.

There was an awkward silence between them. Kanda looked unapproachable as ever, and Reiichi didn't particularly have anything to say to him.

"Stop fidgeting Kuroshi," he demanded.

She stopped, but a few seconds later she started to fidget again.

"Kanda-san…"

Kanda glanced at her but didn't say anything.

"What's your favourite colour?"

The question totally threw Kanda off.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I could dress you in pink for the shoots, if you want," she muttered sourly. "Can't you just answer the question?"

"I have no preference for colours," he stated bluntly.

"Well then, please anticipate a frilly pink dress for this week's shoot."

"Stop screwing around Kuroshi," he was starting to lose his patience. "If I _don't _like colours, it means I _don't_ like them. You should save your time and actually think about what you are going to portray for this week's theme, virgin girl."

"Better a virgin than a man whore," Reiichi glared. "I wonder, how many girls have you seduced to bed already?"

"Five or so, give or take," Kanda answered nonchalantly.

"Keep up the good job, pimp," she smiled sweetly. "Your parents would be proud of you."

Kanda stiffened. The atmosphere between them suddenly plummeted in degrees. He finished his cup of tea in a gulp and slammed the ceramic on the table. Reiichi flinched.

"I never knew my parents," he muttered, getting up from the table. He strode to the door, pushing past Lavi who was entering in.

"Whoa hey, Yuu-chan?" Lavi tried to catch him back, but Kanda's expression made him drop his hand. "Yuu… are you okay?"

"Leave me alone," his voice flat with emotion and he stalked away.

Lavi glanced back into the café, at Reiichi staring at her half cup of hot chocolate. He knew Kanda needed his space, whatever had happened, so he went back into the café and sat down beside Reiichi. She didn't say anything, her lips pursed in thought.

Lavi wanted to ask, but he knew she wouldn't answer, not yet. He settled for scrutinizing her expression, trying to read the various emotions that flitted past her face. Lavi prided himself in reading people, but his cousin was one of the rare few who knew how to keep her emotions hidden.

"Hey Lavi…"

"Hmm?"

"Is Kanda-san an orphan too?"

So this was what it was all about?

"Yeah," he answered carefully. "I'm quite sketchy with the details myself, because he doesn't like to talk about it. I think you should ask him personally, if you want to know."

Reiichi fiddled with her cup.

"I don't think he'll want to talk to me."

"He has to."

Lavi was looking at her curiously, and she sighed. "Lavi… I don't think I can do this."

"…What are you saying?"

"I can't work with Kanda-san," she mumbled. "I'm sorry. "

Lavi put some money on the table and led Reiichi outside. He held her by the shoulders wordlessly, and they walked in silence until they came upon a small park. He spotted an empty bench in front of the fountain, and they sat on it.

"What happened?" He asked gently, stroking her hair.

"…I said something out of line," she hugged him, mumbling into his shoulder. "..and Kanda-san's right. I can't design this week's theme."

Lavi still smelt like fabric softener, a smell that always comforted her. He patted her head.

"What did you say?"

"That his parents would be proud of his sluttish tendencies," Reiichi was still holding him tight. "I didn't really mean it."

"Well…" Lavi didn't really know what to say, because no girl has actually insulted Kanda. In his face. And struck a sore nerve. Wow, that was three impossibles accomplished. "Yuu's not really the type to hold a grudge… and I think you should know that he has a very bad habit of not caring what other people think of him." He softly pulled Reiichi off him to look at her in the eye. "He's not as… promiscuous as I think you think he is."

"Why are you always defending him?" Reiichi poked Lavi in the chest.

"He.." Lavi looked at the fountain with a contemplative eye. "..was the first one who didn't care about my photographic memory. He said I was still stupid," Lavi snorted to himself, but was grinning. "I was still the valedictorian of our year, despite that." His voice took on a more serious tone. "In the real world, people are more vicious about using you; remember that, Rei-chan."

* * *

It was Tuesday and Reiichi's sketch book was blank. She had tried researching for hours on end, but after seeing so many pornographically inspired pictures of lust, she had enough. She went back to school on Monday because she would have just drove herself crazy sitting in her workspace at the studio. She almost regretted the decision when she stepped into the hallway. Whisperings increased as the number of her steps increased. She knew what they were talking about.

An incompetent girl riding on the coattails of her talented cousin and his connections.

Today she sulked into class, some of her classmates approaching her to wheedle anything Kanda Yuu from her, and the other half joined the gossiping group of the school. Matsumoto Junki and her gang were off at the corner shooting her glares. She really did not need this right now.

Once bell rang, Reiichi dashed out of the classroom, avoiding the beeline Matsumoto was heading for her. She stepped into the foyer intending to hail a cab to the studio, but she spotted the familiar black Lamborghini waiting notoriously in front of her. Kanda couldn't be here just for her, could he? The designer was about to walk past the car when the window screen rolled down.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going, Kuroshi?" That was definitely Kanda's condescending voice.

Reiichi knew that she was supposed to apologize to the model, but upon seeing the scowl of irritation on his face immediately wiped away any goodwill she had. "The studio," she snapped back.

A hand suddenly gripped her from behind and she winced, snapping her head back. It was Matsumoto. If anything, what Matsumoto wore everyday bordered on sluttish. A white mini dress that barely reached mid thigh, showing off her toned legs thanks to the expensive massages and creams she could afford. She was also wearing some branded heels that accentuated her overly perfect figure. Inwardly, Reiichi wished she would just trip on them.

"Kanda-sama," she breathed, eyelashes batting at Kanda. "It has been quite a while since we've talked privately."

Reiichi raised an eyebrow and ripped her grip off her shoulder. That hurt. She stormed to the passenger side of the car and slammed herself in. "Let's go, _Kanda_."

Matsumoto's tightening fist didn't go unnoticed by Kanda. "Well, next time then, Kanda-sama," she smiled, blowing a kiss.

Kanda ignored her and stepped on the pedal, leaving the school compounds. The atmosphere in the car was mainly one was anger – Reiichi was fuming to herself silently, too engrossed to care about Kanda at the moment. Matsumoto just got on her nerves with her face. She was everything Reiichi was not, and that included character thank god. Reiichi really preferred herself as a person.

For someone who was brought up spolit, she would continue to be spolit. It was a no brainer that Matsumoto herself got into Black Academy through her parents' contacts. Her portfolio was probably done by other designers she hired. Reiichi sighed. _Maybe I'm just too biased against her_.

"Are you quite done sulking?" Kanda's deep baritone shook her from her thoughts.

"I'm not sulking," she replied childishly, even though she knew she was.

Kanda did not bother to grace her retort.

The car ride went silent again, and Reiichi started to fidget. She hated being in close proximity with people she didn't really know. Not to mention the person she was with proved to have horrible people skills. Suddenly she remembered something like a _private conversation_ between him and Matsumoto. "Do you actually know Matsumoto?"

"Annoying bitch," he scoffed in a heartbeat. "Always clings to me in events even though I don't fucking know her. It's better to pretend that she doesn't exist."

"Glad to know that someone feels the same way."

"Don't put me in the same category as you," he spoke coolly.

Just when Reiichi thought she could hold a decent conversation, he just had to shoot off his mouth. "Why is it that you can't answer without trying to irritate me?"

"Exactly," Kanda smirked. "I'm not even _trying_."

_I really want to hit him. But if I hit him, he might crash the car and I'll die in vain._ Reiichi settled for ignoring him. She glanced out of the window. It was still a long way back.

Reiichi's thoughts drifted again to the café incident. It was just like Lavi said; Kanda didn't seem to hold a grudge against her. He hadn't exactly _hated_ her like she expected. In fact he seemed quite neutral today, just his rude self. But she accepted that it was somewhere in Kanda's personality that he wasn't… nice to people. As long as he didn't offend her too much, she could deal with that.

Maybe she really should apologise after all.

* * *

**Owari.**

The designs and shoots start in the next chapter! Allen will also be making his debut.

Till then.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I know I said that the designing part comes in here, but when I started typing it dragged into 20 pages, so I had to split it up. Rest assured that the first theme, _lust_, all done and Kanda will model it for you in the next chapter!

**

* * *

**

**-Imitation Black-**

Upon reaching _Innocence _headquarters, they entered the elevator and headed directly for the studio. It had been a quiet affair ever since the car-ride. Neither of them spoke, although Reiichi was wondering how her apology should come about. Deciding that it was a do it now or else moment, she opened her mouth.

"About that day, I-"

"-am being annoying," Kanda finished for her. He glanced at her with his cool gaze, as if daring her to say more.

Reiichi shot him a look of irritation. "I wanted to apologise for stepping out of line."

"Yeah, well, you can fucking keep it," He turned to look at the door. "I don't need your pity."

"Suck up your man pride and accept the apology, will you?" Reiichi huffed. "I have no reason to pity you. My childhood probably wasn't any better than yours."

The elevator dinged, cutting off their lovely conversation. Before the doors opened, Kanda swiftly grabbed Reiichi to stand in front of him and lightly pushed her out when the hallway of the basement was revealed.

Reiichi only registered white before something or someone crashed into her, causing both of them to lie in an ungraceful heap before the elevator doorway. Kanda smirked, stepping over the human pile. He strode past Lavi who was gaping behind them all, catching him in a vice like grip so that he wouldn't try and rip Allen off. "Nice try, usagi."

"ALLEN~ GET OFF MY COUSIN!" Lavi all but screamed.

You see, it _was_ Lavi's fault. He thought it would be funny if Allen and Kanda somehow ended up on the floor in a compromising position, except that he didn't calculate the fact that Kanda was ruthless and would use a girl to shield himself. And now his dear cousin is paying the price for it.

Reiichi moaned and rubbed the back of her head where it impacted the floor, sitting up slowly before knocking into someone else's head again.

"Owww.." were the simultaneous groans.

Reiichi was inwardly happy that she wore pants today, or else the situation would have been a tad bit more embarrassing. She blinked, and her vision focused to a face directly in front of her, a bit too close for comfort. The said person was rubbing his forehead, slowly shaking his head as if to clear his vision. Green eyes stared into grey ones, both shining with curiosity. This person was male and young… he looked like a child. Reiichi's eyes travelled down the huge scar that was imprinted on his left eye to his cheek.

"Moyashi, are you done checking her out?" Kanda's condescending tone snapped both of them to reality.

"Shut up, Ba-Kanda," Allen whipped around to snarl.

"Um," Reiichi tapped on Allen's shoulder. "You're kind of… straddling me."

"Oh. Oh. Um right," he flushed, hurriedly getting off her and offering a hand. "I'm sorry about that."

Lavi flounced past Allen and hauled Reiichi to stand after Kanda slackened his grip. "Are you hurt? Did he do anything to you?"

"No, I'm fine," Reiichi adjusted her shirt.

"Allen-chan..," Lavi turned to the younger male with a creepy voice. "Don't you dare take her innocence…"

"Shut it Lavi," Allen sported a terse smile. "It's YOUR fault and YOU pushed me."

"Eh heh..right." Lavi had the decency to look sheepish.

Reiichi rolled her eyes and smacked Lavi across the back of his head.

The boy, Allen, turned towards her with a dazzling smile but a strong hand patted his head and everyone turned to look at the offender. Standing behind Allen was a man with long red hair and a figure so imposing it might have rivaled Kanda's. His face was plastered into a cocky grin, one that Reiichi recognized from several magazines. This was Marian Cross, the owner of Cross Enterprise.

"You're too young to be chasing girls, stupid apprentice." Cross whistled low, eyeing Reiichi with a look that made her feel as though she was wearing a sluttish outfit. "Who is this lovely maiden here?" He took her hand and winked, continuing in his deep baritone. "I'm Cross, but you probably know who I am."

_Arrogant._ Reiichi raised an eyebrow. That certainly reminded her of someone. But at least Cross seemed to have manners. "Kuroshi Reiichi."

"Not a talker, eh? Well then, we could get to know each other on a more imitate level-"

"She's out of bounds," Lavi raised a protective arm in front of her.

Cross chuckled. "Shame," he patted her cheek affectionately before stepping away. "Oi," he addressed Allen, who was staring at his flirting exchange red-faced. "I'm going out for an appointment. You settle whatever she needs. Got that, idiot apprentice?"

"Yes, shishou." Allen muttered. An appointment? Probably an appointment with the brothel.

Once Cross was out of sight, Allen started muttering dark curses under his breath with words Reiichi thought a young boy would never know. "_*expletive* shishou..I can't wait to *expletive* him and *expletive* *expletive* *expletive_*.."

Cross Enterprise, headed by Cross Marian, is a set provider for designer shootings. Whatever you wanted, they could get it. Fake or real, right down to a specific number coded colour, they could get it, as long as you had the money to pay for it. It was mighty useful that Reiichi would be working with them. It gave her a lot of imagination space.

"Ah.. Allen-chan," Lavi tried to shake Allen back to reality. "Don't go over to the dark side!"

Allen stopped and blinked. He suddenly realized that he was swearing off in the presence of a fairer sex. He coughed. "Sorry you had to see that," he offered a hand, a genuine smile on his features. "We got off a trippy start, but I'm Allen Walker."

Reiichi smiled back. He seemed like a nice person. "Kuroshi Reiichi. You're not Japanese, are you?"

Allen had a crop of snow white hair, unusual for anyone of any race.

"British, actually. Neither are you Japanese, am I right?"

"Yes, but I'm been brought up in Japan all my life."

Allen clapped his hands together. "Let's get down to business then. Where do you want to discuss the details of your set?"

Lavi was guiding Kanda towards the kitchen to give them some space, not before shouting, "Don't touch her Allen-chan~"

Allen steadily ignored him, still smiling at Reiichi like nothing happened. Reiichi stifled a laugh. "We can discuss in my workspace, Walker-san."

"You can call me Allen," he replied. "I'm younger than you, so it feels kind of weird."

"How old exactly are you?" If Reiichi guessed, he looked fourteen or something. Which meant that he should still be in school.

"Sixteen,"

"You look much younger than that," Reiichi commented. "If you don't mind me asking, why are you not in school?"

"Well," he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm actually going to take over Cross Enterprise when I'm older, so… better to learn the ropes when you're young. Something like that."

Reiichi hummed. They reached her workspace, entered in and settled down into the stools.

"So.." Allen started.

"Actually," Reiichi played with her fingers, a sign that she was nervous. "I haven't come up with a design yet."

"…but the shooting's in two days!" Allen's eyes widened.

"I know, don't tell me that," she sighed.

"You don't look worried," he peered curiously at her.

"Trust me, I am freaking out badly right now," she strained a slight smile. "I just control my emotions well enough."

"Okay, maybe I can help you a bit," Allen scooted closer. "What's the theme?"

"Lust," Reiichi started drawing circles on the table. "I have a vague impression of something dark, but I don't want to design the set if I haven't designed the clothing yet."

"I'm sorry to say this but shouldn't lust be… easy… because it's Ba-Kanda we're talking about?"

"This might shock you," Reiichi had to keep in her amusement. "But unlike 99.9% of the human population, I do not think Kanda is a sex god."

Allen stared at her flabbergasted before bursting into laughter. "You are pretty amazing."

"Honestly, though," she continued. "I admit he's good looking. If he wasn't, he can't be a model. But that's as far as it goes."

Allen was still chuckling to himself, trying not to hyperventilate. "I think… you haven't seen him model yet. As much as I hate that self centered jerk, he is really one of the best there is."

"Even you are defending him," Reiichi recounted Lavi's defense of Kanda. "Lavi said his walk on the runway is something not to be missed."

"Well, god shoot me if Ba-Kanda ever hears this from my mouth, but I have to agree with Lavi," Allen nodded seriously. "Other than the fact that you think Ba-Kanda is not sexy, what's the problem?"

"I can't exactly define lust," she sighed. "I know I can go with a generic definition, but every single thing that's on set should have a special meaning. There's no point if I create something impersonal just for the sake of completing my deadline."

Allen patted her hand sympathetically. "I understand your passion, but I need time to prepare the materials as well, especially if you decide on something elaborate."

"I promise I won't ask for too much,"

"Try to think of something by tonight," he smiled encouragingly. "I'm sorry to pressure you, but you have to make the clothing as well."

"I'll contact you," Reiichi promised.

Allen left the room, leaving Reiichi to dwell in her lack of inspiration.

* * *

Four hours later, the table was scattered with various drawings and doodles. Some crunched up pieces of paper decorated the floor. Reiichi's brain was fried. She couldn't think anymore. She had sketched various outfits but none of them seemed to encompass what she was trying to express. She either drew something too revealing or something too reminiscent of a stripper. She didn't want to rely on the fact that Kanda's body sold.

Lavi had popped in various times to check on her progress, but she waved him off each time. Lavi submitted, because he knew she was under stress and she liked to be left alone. So she was surprised when Kanda stepped in holding a plate of food and a glass of water.

He placed them on the table wordlessly, and Reiichi expected him to leave immediately. Instead he propped himself up on the workbench.

"Eat, or you'll become even skinner," he instructed, pushing the plate towards her. It was spaghetti tossed in olive oil. Vaguely she wondered if Lavi had told him that she hated her spaghetti with tomato or cream sauce. It smelt heavenly, but she had no appetite. There were more pressing issues to be taken care of than eating.

"Not hungry," she pushed the plate back, but took the glass to drink.

Kanda pushed the plate back, and both of them engaged in a childish plate pushing contest. "Just fucking eat already," Kanda finally snapped.

"I told you, I am not hungry," Reiichi rested her head on the table. "I'm trying to not freak out and you are not helping."

Kanda scrutinized her for a moment. She indeed looked more worn, and her fighting spirit seemed to be duller.

"You're thinking too much about it," Kanda commented. "I think… your problem is not the theme, but the fact that it's the first big thing you're doing."

"That's not true," the reply came easily from the table. Reiichi frowned to herself. Was he right? Was it because she didn't want people to tag her with a certain kind of design?

Kanda got off the table and yanked Reiichi off the stool she was sitting. "What is your-" He pulled her to the wall and trapped her with his body imposing in front of her, arms slammed at the sides of her head. He was looking at her with great intensity, and she couldn't help but look away.

"W-what are you trying to do?" Reiichi hated her voice for stuttering, but this was the first time she ever got caught in such a position. It didn't matter if she liked Kanda or not. It mattered because he was male and way too close for her liking.

"According to you," he lowered his voice. "If you experience lust, you'd have no problems designing it."

Reiichi tried to push him away, but he caught her hands and held them firmly against the wall. He gently held her face to face him directly. He was close. Too close. She could smell the cologne he used, a musky scent that felt comforting. She knew she was already blushing like a young school girl thinking about her first crush.

"Kanda, let go," was all she managed.

Kanda's gaze never broke. It was then she realized Kanda's eyes were a dark inky blue, one that held many secrets. She noticed his long eye lashes that accentuated his oriental beauty, and the flawlessness of his skin. Maybe, Reiichi thought, it was true that she never really looked at him.

But this was still Kanda. She didn't like him that way, it was silly of her to react in such a way. She gained a bit of control, but she couldn't deny the rapid heartbeat that was coursing through her veins.

Kanda had grazed a light touch down her jaw line, causing her breath to hitch. It sparked new sensations she never left before, and she could feel herself losing to his touch. Slowly, his fingers travelled down her neck and circled her collarbone. He still looked at her unwaveringly, eyes unreadable. It was only when his gaze flickered to her lips that she snapped back to reality and shoved him off.

Reiichi panted lightly. She knew she was blushing an insane amount. She faced the wall and let out a long groan. Now she couldn't get his eyes out of her head, nor that feeling of his caress on her skin. Kanda sat himself back on the table, satisfied at his handiwork. His seduction powers never failed him.

"Did you say, '_you're not that good-looking'_?" he mocked, smirking at the flushed girl trying to blend herself into the wall.

"I didn't say you weren't good looking," the muffled reply came. "Just not anything special." She clarified.

Kanda tched, having his ego blown up and then destroyed.

"Do you think you can stop moping now and get to work?"

Reiichi turned around and shot him an annoyed look, still slightly red-faced. "This is your fault."

"That you're feeling disorientated now?" The model smirked. "I thought you weren't like other girls. I guess you proved me wrong," he shrugged.

"I am not going to fall over your feet, Your Highness," she scathingly shot back, feeling a bit insulted that he grouped her with his screaming fangirls.

"It's good that you know your place, slave girl," Kanda's grin was one of pure evil delight.

Silence engulfed them both. Reiichi waited for Kanda to leave, but he showed no signs of doing so. He merely sat stared off into space. She wondered if he even knew she was there. She grabbed a pencil and tried to start on a suitable design. Her thoughts started drifting back to Kanda, and she realized that she was sketching his eyes. Crumpling the piece of paper, she sighed and tried to blank her mind out. _Get over it. Get over it. Get over it._

Reiichi looked at the model lost in his own world once more, and she studied his clothes for today. An off the shoulder top with a black tank underneath, as well as cult jeans. There was a black mark on his left shoulder. Curious, she advanced closer.

"Hey Kanda," she touched him lightly. "Is that a tattoo?"

Kanda glanced at his own shoulder. "Yeah."

"Can I see it?"

"You want me to take my clothes off?" he fixed her a look. "Are you that desperate?"

"I thought you were confident with your own body," Reiichi sniffed. "Isn't common for models to strip when their designer tells them to?"

Reiichi had seen many birthday suits in the course of her study. Most models she met were comfortable in their own skin. She was uncomfortable with it at first, especially with male models, but she had to get used to it.

Kanda obliged, pulling off his top. Reiichi's eyes did not stray to his body. She was too fascinated with the black pattern on his chest. It was in a unique shape, something that looked like the number three. "What does this mean?"

"Nothing that concerns you,"

Reiichi memorized the symbol, since Kanda didn't want to give her a straight answer. She could use this. "How come you didn't have a tattoo in that CK shoot?"

"I thought you never paid attention to my shoots."

"Your face, actually your body, was pasted all over the city, including my school for that shoot. I didn't have a choice."

"Air brushing, I think," Kanda thought. "Usually they like to cover it up with make up or edit it afterwards."

Reiichi could understand why most designers like their models blemish free. Sometimes the extra mark did not sit well with what the designer was trying to express, or it took up the main attention of the picture instead of the clothes. It was quite amazing to think that Kanda had such a large tattoo and was still in such a high demand. She was about to touch the tattoo when the door slammed open, causing her to jump out of shock.

Both of them snapped to the doorway where the guilty had his hands up in surrender. "Whoops, sorry to disturb your moment," Lavi was grinning too much for his own good.

The door closed hurriedly. Reiichi rolled her eyes. She knew her cousin was probably going into hyper drive thinking about her love life now with Kanda. As if she couldn't see his failed attempts at matchmaking since day one. She went back to her seat, ideas formulating in her head.

Kanda tossed his outfit back on. He made way towards the door, but he stopped before he turned the knob. "Kuroshi."

"Hmm?"

"If you really want to define lust, you can just define it in your own way," he looked back at her. "Even without experience."

Reiichi stared at the door long after he left. It did make sense. She was too occupied thinking about how people would receive her design and think that it didn't suit the theme. She tried too hard in thinking of ways to stay true to the conventional idea of lust. If she just made something that showed what_ she_ believed lust was, that would be enough.

Sometimes Kanda could be nice. If he tried.

* * *

Once Kanda was out of the room, he was instantly glomped by Lavi. "What was that, huh?" The red head nudged him and winked suggestively. Which proved difficult with one eye.

"You showed her your tattoo voluntarily, Yuu! That's something," Lavi chattered on. "You tried to kill me when I wanted to see it."

Lavi was again blowing things out of proportion. "I fucking thought you wanted to _rape_ me," he spat, glaring at him for the traumatizing experience he'd never forget. "Kuroshi would see it anyway during the fittings. There's no point in hiding it."

"Can you call her Rei or something, Yuu?" Lavi's voice dropped suddenly. "I… don't really want to be reminded of her parents, y'know?"

Kanda would've thought this was another one of Lavi's horrible matchmaking attempts at trying to get him to be closer to his cousin, but he knew how much it hurt for Lavi. He scowled but nodded. The things he did for his friend.

"So…" Lavi was again back to his cheerful annoying self. "What do you think about her?"

"Why are you trying to sell her so desperately?" Kanda demanded.

"I want her to be in good hands," Lavi stressed. "With someone I can _trust_."

"And you think that's me?" Kanda let out laugh of disbelief. "Are you fucking insane?"

"As nice as to hear you admit that you aren't perfect, which is an oddity, I have been told that I'm insane," Lavi agreed. "I'm a genius, duh."

"Seriously though, what do you think?" he was back on interrogating him.

"She's normal," Kanda suddenly realized that she was probably not normal, because normal people worshipped the ground that he walked. "She's… not annoying," he admitted grudgingly, much to Lavi's delight. Inwardly, he didn't get how Lavi and Rei's personality clashed so much.

"That's a big step, coming from a guy who used to only tolerate one girl," Lavi grinned. "Now you have two!"

Kanda smacked the hand that tried to pat his shoulder away. That still didn't mean anything. She was just a colleague. Rei wasn't exactly very pretty nor was he going to cliché-ly "fall in love at first sight" with her. She was just a girl whom didn't grate on his nerves as much.

Nothing special about it.

* * *

It was seven am in the morning and Reiichi felt like she wanted to die. She had sketched and started on her piece throughout the night. She was definitely skipping school today. Yukina-sensei would bitch to her when she went back, but she didn't care at this point. She was just happy that she managed to get on the right track. All that was left was to fit the outfit on Kanda today and rummage through the shoe stack to find an appropriate one to match everything.

She really should call Allen.

But she was too tired. She slumped on the table, promising herself a one hour nap before she got back to work.

30 minutes later her door slammed open. She groaned, jolting awake.

"Wakey wakey Rei-chan~" Too bright and cheerful for her liking. "Your Prince Charming is here to wake you up~"

Reiichi didn't respond. Maybe if she pretended she didn't hear anything, Lavi would go away. Fat chance. Lavi was prodding at her like no tomorrow.

"Rei-chan~" he whined.

Reiichi slammed the top of her workbench, startling even Kanda who was watching them by the door way. "I stopped work at seven this morning," she growled. "Leave. Me. Alone." She swatted Lavi away and slumped back unto the table.

Lavi looked back at Kanda who was staring at the mannequin next to her. It was the clothes he was going to wear tomorrow. Kanda's face was unreadable, and Lavi could not tell if he approved of what Reiichi made. Lavi got up and headed to the set space to set up his lighting and camera for Kanda's shoot today.

"Yuu-chan, can you carry Rei-chan to the relax room?" He requested offhandedly.

"Can't you do it yourself?" Kanda shot back.

"I'm busy," he pointed exaggeratedly at whatever he was doing. But Lavi had a point. Kanda knew nuts about lighting and camera and shit, and he had nothing to do until his make up artist arrived or the representative from Burberry came.

The girl in question was already in a deep sleep. Kanda grunted and lifted her easily. She was light – too light – had she even been eating? Dark circles around her eyes suggested that she hadn't been sleeping well either. Her skin was also too cold to touch, as though she had been freezing under the air conditioner. Stupid girl, she could have lowered the thermostat.

He dumped her on the couch in the relax room. Lowering the thermostat to 25 degrees, he shrugged off his light coat that he was wearing – purely for the sake for fashion actually- and draped it over her frame. He would never hear the end of it if Rei caught a cold.

Seven hours later Reiichi shot up, awake. She recognized that she was in the relax room, and that the article of clothing covering her was not hers. Probably Lavi's. She sat up completely, clearing her head as she tried to recall what she was supposed to do at the moment. A clock on the wall read 2 23 p.m.

Oh right, she was supposed to call Allen.

Quietly, she folded the coat neatly and took it with her as she exited the room, walking down the long hallway to find Lavi. She didn't have Allen's number, but she knew Lavi did. There was a sound of laughter coming from the kitchen that she recognized was Lavi's so she entered it and found Lavi and Kanda eating at the table.

"Awake now, sleeping beauty?" Lavi smiled and got up to ruffle her already messy hair. She must look horrible, she knew it.

"Thanks for the coat," she pushed the clothing into Lavi's chest.

"That's.. not mine," Lavi stared at it. "I think it's Yuu's." To which Kanda snatched out of his hands.

"Well, um, thanks," Reiichi directed it to Kanda who was pointedly reading the newspaper and ignoring her.

"Are you hungry?" Lavi ushered her into a seat and placed a rice packet in front of her. "I'm sorry it would be anything as good as yesterday, because Yuu was bitching about how much he didn't want to cook today-"

"I wasn't bitching," Kanda sniffed. "After that Burberry shoot I fucking deserve a break."

"Wait," Reiichi's brain was still working a bit slow. "You mean yesterday's spaghetti was made by Kanda?" She asked with an incredulous expression. It tasted good. Incredible actually, like it came from a restaurant.

Kanda looked affronted. "What? Is it against the law if I can cook?"

"Now you know that my _man_ is a chef," Lavi dug back into his food. "You should try his-"

Kanda rolled up the newspaper and whacked it at Lavi. "Do not encourage her," he threatened. "I don't want another irritating whiner to plead to me about food. You are enough as it is."

Reiichi silently ate her lunch, her stomach becoming more active. "Oh yeah Lavi, do you have Allen's number?"

Lavi looked scandalized. "What do you want with Moyashi-chan? He's younger than you!"

"The _set _Lavi, have you forgotten?" came her exasperated voice.

Lavi dug out his hand phone and handed it to her. "It's under M, for Moyashi."

"Really, what is with the nickname? Beansprout?" She really didn't get it. She took out her own phone and copied the number, labeling under his rightful name – Allen.

"It's actually Yuu's nickname for Allen-chan. Pretty cute right?"

Again, Kanda and his pet name tendacies.

"I know what you're thinking Rei," Kanda shot her a glare as an amused expression crept over her face. "It's _not _cute."

"Since when did you call me Rei?" She glanced up from the phones. She spotted the look Kanda and Lavi exchanged, Kanda's death glare and Lavi's slient plea for help.

"I call you whatever I want, got a problem with that?" was his final answer.

"Only if you try to tag some pet name with me," she focused back on task. "Can I take your number?"

Kanda didn't reply, so she assumed that meant affirmative. Lavi snatched his phone out of her hands before she could scroll down to Kanda's name.

"No, Rei-chan," he chided. "You should get it from him directly. Say it like "Kanda-kun,"" Lavi put on a pseudo high pitched girly voice that both Reiichi and Kanda winced at. "Can I have your number? So that we can arrange that date-"

Reiichi stared, expression highly disturbed. "I don't know if that's one of your sick fantasies… but leave me out of that."

"Dude.." Kanda suddenly lost his appetite. "Don't speak to me. Ever."

"Guys…" Lavi whined. It seemed like every joke attempt he made was backfiring at him.

Reiichi took back his phone and successfully keyed Kanda's number into hers. She could sell Kanda's number for a hefty sum. This was good blackmail material.

Once done with her lunch, she dialed Allen's number.

"_Allen speaking_," a causal voice answered the line.

"Hey, this is Reiichi,"

"_Oh, um, I didn't expect you to call my personal cell but it's alright."_

"I got it off Lavi. Anyway sorry for the late call, but I've got my design in mind."

"_Good. I'll try to get it done as soon as possible. What do you need?"_

"A bed, preferably one with gold frames. Make the sheets black and red silk. Pillows should be pure white, the sheets too."

"_Hmm, go on."_

"Two handcuffs with an extended chain each,"

Laughter sounded over the other line. _"It sounds like you're playing out one of Shishou's kinky fantasies."_

Reiichi chuckled. "You'll see. Black leather straps, if you have them. Throw in some long strips of red silk too. Maybe Cross-san can help me with his imagination."

"_Anything else?"_

Reiichi pursed her lips in thought. "Red roses. Enough to scatter on set, but not too overpowering."

"Real or fake?"

"Fake," Kanda cut in from the table across her. She wasn't aware he could listen in on her conversation. "I don't want to smell like flowers after the shoot."

"Fake," Reiichi told Allen.

"_You don't have to listen to Ba-Kanda you know,"_

"Don't worry Allen, I have my reason for using fake roses. Please make them look fake, by the way."

"_Alright. I should be able to get it all by tomorrow, no sweat. See you tomorrow Reichii!"_

"Thanks Allen, see you."

* * *

**Owari.**

And so it begins.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This whole thing is actually the plotline of chapter two, but you see how much I delayed until here. Nonetheless I am pretty satisfied with how this came out. It certainly fried a good portion of my brain just sitting for hours typing.

Enjoy.

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

Kanda was with her in her work space, clothes thrown on the table as Reiichi tried to convince him to wear the pair of jeans she made.

"It looks ridiculous," he maintained, totally unaffected with the fact that he was merely wearing his boxers in front of her. "The top looks fine to me, but these pants, no. Over my dead body."

"Kanda," Reiichi was on the verge of slapping him. There was no time to submit to his whim just because he didn't like it. Well she thought it was a great idea so hell with His Majesty's opinion. Did he not see the limited time they had? The shoot was tomorrow for god's sake, and she was certainly not going to pull another all nighter. "Just wear it okay. I _don't _care about what you think and I certainly _don't _care whether you want me to make something else."

She pushed the article of clothing into his hands with finality, matching his irritated expression with one of her own signature death glares. "Wear it, then insult it."

"Fine," Kanda snapped, pulling the jeans on.

It wasn't so much that it was jeans that Kanda didn't want to wear it. In fact, he was perfectly fine with denim. But this offending pair was unusual, to say the least. The top part until mid thigh was dyed beige, a skin-like colour and from mid thigh downwards it was stone washed black. It reminded Kanda of those girls who loved to wear knee high socks, leaving their milky thighs to the overdrive imagination of the perverted nature of men. He did not like to be compared to as one of them.

The jeans were tight – had she not been given his correct measurements? Reiichi moved forward to help him, head nodding in approval as he managed to squeeze into the pair. He left the jeans unzipped and unbuttoned. She pushed him to the full length mirror at the back of the room, standing back to admire her own handiwork.

As expected, Kanda's body was versatile enough to handle it. The jeans hugged his figure tightly, showing off his _ass_ets she knew girls loved to fawn over. The odd design didn't make him too girly, but instead managed to play off a seductive feel of the line at his mid thigh. It was a good choice to choose denim, the material did not stick too flimsy that made him look sluttish, but gave a bit more weight and grunge feel.

Kanda stared at his own reflection in the mirror. The effect was different than he expected. It looked wrong and trashy when he saw the pair of jeans, but on him… it was good, he supposed. Then again, he looked good in anything.

"How is it? Comfortable?" Reiichi saw Kanda's approval in his lack of retorts.

"Too tight," he grunted, but he could slowly feel the material molding comfortably around his legs.

Reiichi brought the top over for him and adjusted it to fit the look she was going for.

"Perfect," looked into the mirror at Kanda's reflection.

Kanda was certainly something to be able to pull of this look. In fact, he looked better than she imagined. It was no question now that Kanda looked incredible, she supposed. She didn't realize she was staring so hard until she noticed Kanda's knowing smirk on his face, one that boasted of his ego.

"Like what you see," he taunted; advancing towards her like a predator would to a prey.

"You're not pulling that on me again," Reiichi stood her ground. She knew Kanda didn't have any interest in her, and it would do no good if he continued to play games like that.

"Thank god, no," he sneered. "Not even if Lavi went down on his knees and _begged _again-"

"Lavi did what?"

"You didn't think I did it out of my good will, did you?" He questioned. "Because that would be incredibly naïve. Not to mention stupid."

Any good impression of Kanda immediately crumbled.

"Perhaps I expected too much," she muttered to herself as Kanda stripped off her clothing to get back into his.

She didn't know why but she felt incredibly hurt and betrayed. They seemed to be getting along okay enough, but it turned out to be her imagination. She sighed. Why did she have to work with an egoistic self indulgent prick?

Kanda had left the room a few minutes ago, leaving her to clear up her workspace for tomorrow. Lavi came in; helping her roll up the fabric she used and putting them back into the closet. Reiichi was awfully quiet.

"Did something happen?" He asked curiously. Kanda hadn't looked any different when he came out of the room just now.

"Nothing much," she responded dejectedly. "Though, I'd appreciate it if you stopped asking Kanda to seduce me."

"..Seduce you.. what?"

"Yesterday?" she tried to awaken his memory. "When he brought my food, you asked him to do something didn't you?"

"No.." She could see no lie in Lavi's genuinely confused expression. "I only told him to give you your dinner, nothing else."

Reiichi frowned to herself. So… Kanda lied?

"So something did happen," Lavi prodded her. "Besides you checking out his tattoo."

"Well.. no. Not really,"

Lavi obviously did not believe her. He was not going to let this one slide, oh no. Especially when it involved his best mate and dear cousin.

"Let me guess, he trapped you to a wall, and kissed you senseless."

"No!" Reiichi looked horrified at his suggestion.

"Chill, I was just kidding," he laughed, ruffling her hair. "Your expression is adorable."

"Be serious Lavi."

"Okay, okay. He trapped you to a wall, and almost tried something like kissing you."

Reiichi's silence of affirmation shocked Lavi.

"WHAT? I WAS JUST JOKING!" Lavi exploded, already heading towards the door to find Kanda. "He's not supposed to touch you in any way, best friend or not."

Reiichi grabbed on to his shirt before he could move any further. "For someone who tried to pair us up countless times, your reaction is really quite ironic."

"This is no time for sarcasm Rei-chan!" Lavi tried to tug his shirt out of her grip.

"You calm down, Lavi." It was quite funny that Lavi overreacted for her in all situations.

Lavi took a few deep breaths. "Okay, I won't run away now."

"Good," Reiichi released him.

"Rei-chan, I don't care how much you like him but Yuu cannot touch you until you're married to him, got it?"

"I _don't_ like him, and I _will not_ get married to him," she sighed. "He didn't try anything past this."

She traced Lavi's jawline and down neck to his collarbone, similar to what Kanda did yesterday. Why was she even defending Kanda?

"Oh," Lavi hummed to himself. "It makes sense."

"What makes sense?"

"You see here," he pressed lightly against the base of her jaw line. "Is where most girls are sensitive. Along the jaw line. The neck is also another area." He tapped against her collarbone. "This part, is a powerful tool if you can manipulate it correctly. He was trying to ignite your arousal, I'm guessing."

"Can you not phrase it in such a way?" She let her head rest against his shoulders. It was kind of embarrassing for her to hear her cousin speak so candidly about the wonders of a human body.

"You're still so innocent," Lavi chuckled, patting her head. "Don't worry, Lavi will take care of all the big bad guys for you."

"Come on," he moved her to clear up. "I don't want you sleeping in the studio again. You've got a big day tomorrow."

* * *

Reiichi ran towards the foyer. She was late. Not exactly extremely behind time, but if she wasn't early… she knew Kanda's bitchiness about tardiness. That man had issues, she concluded. She intended to hail a cab, again, because for once in her life she did not have to worry about paying for it – the contract stated that she could claim transport rights- but she saw the black car at the entrance. She groaned.

"God help me."

Lavi came bouncing out of the front passenger seat to pull her into the back seats. Didn't Kanda say Lavi was never to sit his car again?

"The studio, my good sir," he joyfully directed Kanda, who ignored him as usual.

"Morning," she greeted the men in the car.

"You're late-" Kanda started off as she knew he would.

"By five minutes, I know. I apologise for making you wait, Your Highness," she answered back tiredly.

"You better do."

The car ride gave her a sense of déjà vu. Lavi started off in his tirade of Reiichi's non existent boyfriends, Kanda got irritated and drove past five red lights, Reichii clung to her seatbelt for dear life. Upon reaching the headquarters, Kanda was lifting Lavi off the ground threatening to throw him into the fountain.

Had this not happened before?

Reiichi watched as Lavi stepped out of the fountain dripping wet and Kanda storming to the entrance swearing off his colourful vocabulary. Lavi all but grinned and took it in his stride as if it was normal –Reiichi had no doubts that it probably _was_ normal for them now – and they headed to the studio together.

The elevator door to the basement opened slowly and Reiichi suddenly felt a sense of in-coming danger. "Lavi, I think you-"

Reiichi didn't finish her sentence as a figure whom she recognized as Allen slammed into Lavi, sprawling both of them unto the ground. Kanda was standing a few paces in front looking very pleased with himself.

"Arghh.." Allen rubbed his head. "Stupid Ba-Kanda, I'll get you for that."

"Tch. Try saying that when you're actually legal, brat. You're only ten."

"I'm sixteen," he stressed. "Sixeteen. Lord knows your brain can't even remember such a small detail-"

"Insignificant detail-"

"Go to hell. Oh wait, they probably kicked you out."

"Shut up Moyashi, your voice is giving me a headache."

"Well, your face gives me cancer."

"Skeezer."

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

"Prat."

"O-"

"As much as I love to hear you guys bicker like married couple," Lavi cut in. "Allen-chan can you get off me?"

Allen hastily got up, sending Kanda a look so evil Reiichi never knew such an innocent boy could make. Kanda matched it with his own cool gaze. The sparks. She could see it.

"So when's the wedding?" Lavi couldn't help but crack his own joke.

Both of them turned to him with expressions that promised death. Lavi whimpered.

Allen spotted Reiichi and turned to her with his mega watt smile. "Good morning," he chirped, as though the events before never happened. "Would you like to see if the set is to your liking?"

Everyone headed towards the set space, curious. The back drop was black, and the bed she requested was placed slightly to the left side, at an angle. The cuff, leather and silk strips lay on the bed, and dark red roses scattered across the set. It was dark, it was seductive. It was something Reiichi wanted.

"I didn't expect… wow," she headed directly to the bed. "I pictured something like this. Thanks Allen."

"No problem. If you want to move anything, go ahead. It's your design after all."

Reiichi surveyed the set. She pulled the silk covers out, twisting them into an artistic swirl of alternating black and red until she was satisfied. She placed the leather and silk strips around, some on the floor, some tied to the bed post. She was still thinking about how to perfect it when several footsteps caught her attention.

At the entrance of the hallway stood a short woman with an aura that screamed don't mess with her. Behind her were several people in black overalls. Perhaps to help out with the lighting, she assumed.

"You're late," Kanda addressed them coolly, but his irritation was clearly felt.

"Shut it pretty boy," the woman snapped back. "I had Bak ranting to me about his _dearest_ Lenalee for the past hour, I am_ not_ in the mood."

She stepped forward and patted Allen on the cheek. "Hey cutie, you're as short as ever."

"Fou! My good man, I mean, lady," Lavi motioned Reiichi to come over. "I'd like you to meet my cousin, Reiichi."

The woman, Fou, studied her with a criticizing eye. Reiichi felt a tad bit intimidated by her gaze, which was ridiculous because Reiichi towered over her. "Nice to meet cha," she concluded, a warm grin settled on her features. "I've heard that you're immune to pretty boy's charms. That's really something," she laughed.

"Likewise," Reiichi smiled back. "Am I really the only girl who thinks Kanda isn't all that?"

"Out of the modeling industry, yep." Fou spotted Kanda walking disinterestedly away from the set. "Oi, pretty boy, get into the make up chair."

Kanda cursed, but complied. Fou, Reiichi learnt, was Kanda's resident make up artist. She was the only artist whom didn't try to take advantage of Kanda whenever he was on the chair, so he tolerated her. That was besides the fact that Fou was one of the best in the company.

"So.." Fou stared into the mirror Kanda was staring at himself. "How do ya want him?"

Reiichi tilted her head sideways, thinking. "I'm going for the wild and seductive look. Perhaps make his hair… less straight, but keep it down."

Fou nodded in agreement. "I'm thinking dark liner and light silver eye shadow, nothing too over done of course,"

"That sounds good. Oh, could you outline his tattoo in red?"

"His tattoo?" Fou quirked an eyebrow. Most of the designers wanted her to cover up the tattoo, not make it look even more conspicuous.

"Yeah. Not too bright, but not too dark either. "

Fou looked at Kanda, who was curiously staring at Reiichi. She hadn't told him about this. "I can make it work," she conceded. This was getting interesting.

* * *

The crew outside waited with bated breath as seconds ticked by. It was a chore to wait for Kanda to get dressed, especially if the costume was elaborate, but the results were usually worth it. Another agonizing minute ticked by, and the door knob of the model changing room turned. Fou stepped out first, a pleased look on her face, followed by Reiichi who looked tired, if not contented. Kanda came out last, and a hushed silence suddenly fell upon the set.

He strode confidently to the bed, as if he knew how good he looked. Actually, he did. His hair was slightly messy, but it accentuated the look he now understood Rei was going for. The top was dark grey, loose, but it cracked artistically at the side, showing off his tattoo that was now obvious thanks to the red paint even under a translucent black tight top that he wore underneath the first piece. The jeans he knew, was what everyone was staring at. The stark difference in colour of black to beige made everyone's eyes glue to it, just as he predicted it would. He was wearing killer platforms that made his figure even more imposing.

"Would you stop staring at my _crotch_?" he snappishly addressed the entire audience.

Lavi whistled low. "I never thought you could get any hotter," he commented, already snapping photos because he just had to. "Good job, Rei-chan." The assistants scrambled to get ready, startled out of stupor by Kanda's comment.

Reiichi fitted the cuffs unto Kanda, and tied some pieces of the leather and silks strips in an intricate manner on his leg or arm. "Is this your sick fantasy?" he couldn't help but snark.

"Just model, will you?" After an hour of him complaining in the dressing room, Reiichi didn't know if she could handle his attitude anymore.

She stepped back, finally satisfied and nodded at Lavi to begin. She took a seat at the back of the room next to Allen.

"So.. how did you come up with this?"

"Lust," she began. "Is something like being drowned in your own world. The cuffs are meant to show that he's being chained to something, something that he won't let go of, no matter how much it destroys…,"

"….Did you ever wonder about his tattoo, Allen? About its significance?"

"Not really. Does it matter much?"

"You see it's Sanskrit," she mused thoughtfully. "It's the symbol of Aum that represents three states of an individual's consciousness. State of bliss, unconsciousness and consciousness. Bliss is obvious. Physical intimacy is said to be one of the most pleasurable. Everyone has an innate desire for lust, conscious or not. But what's most ironic," she continued. "Is that his tattoo is meant to represent peace. Lust never gives you that. It burns, it eats, it destroys."

Allen looked at her in wonder, admiring her depth of thought. "What about the pants then?"

"I can't deny the physical aspect of lust, can I?" Reiichi smiled. "I've always wondered if anyone could pull off the look I had in mind with those pants. You can't say that you've had complaints about cute girls and their high socks, have you?"

"Well..no," Allen blushed. "But on a guy it's just… different. Not anything bad," he reassured Reiichi. Was it his fault at he couldn't stop looking at Kanda's pants?

"He does have a good figure, I'll give him that," Allen sliently agreed with Reiichi. He wasn't gay, mind you. It was just common knowledge that Kanda was incredibly good looking.

"And the shirt?" he tried to distract himself with another question. Already he could see the various assistants fanning themselves as if the temperature rose by a hundred degrees. Lavi was off shouting lewd remarks that was not helping the situation at all.

"The split at the side shows the truth of the matter. Lust seems to be well and smooth, until it bears its head and swallows you hole. The black material underneath is to show the endless pit that you fall in. His tattoo that is seen through emphasizes the irony of it all."

Allen really didn't know how Reiichi was sitting through a _Kanda Yuu_ modeling session without being affected. He looked at her while she continued on her explanation, and realized that Reiichi wasn't looking. She was seeing the general picture, but she wasn't _looking_ at it.

"The fake roses," she went on to the last item. "Is meant to show how fake lust as an emotion really is. You might get caught in the moment, but in the end, it was never a real feeling."

"I feel enlightened," Allen smiled. He appreciated the fact that Reiichi took so much careful thought into planning. Not many designers do. "It's really an incredible piece."

"Thanks," she smiled back. "One down, six more to go."

Allen gestured towards the model in front of them. "I think Reiichi, you aren't looking at Ba-Kanda properly."

"What do you mean?"

"I might be wrong," he started carefully. "But it feels like you're purposely trying not to be impressed by him."

There was a long silence and Allen thought he crossed the line and offended her. "I'm sor-"

"No, Allen, you may be right," Reiichi admitted.

"I won't press you for it, but I think you should enjoy his performance today," he replied. "It is, after all, your hard work."

The pair lapsed into silence watching the model and photographer at work. Kanda was sitting haughtily on the bed; chin up in defiance but wrists down as though chained to the bed. The eye liner and silver eye shadow mystified his persona, lending him an eerie seductive look. Kanda looked clearly in his element. He changed positions flawlessly and worked the camera angles to his advantage, easy with his experience. He ran a tongue over his lips, eyes half closed in contentment.

"Now, Yuu, run that hand up your gorgeous thigh," Lavi beckoned laughingly. He could already see how the media was going to love him.

The model complied with his suggestion, shifting to a more comfortable position whilst allowing the camera a better view of those wicked pants. His hand lingered on the edge of the contrast, slowly dragging a finger up. Allen choked, and Reiichi hurriedly smacked his back.

"Are you okay?"

Allen coughed once more. "Y-yeah." Damn Ba-Kanda. He could see that Reiichi was slowly getting into the model's performance. Her cheeks were tinted a slight pink, and she was pulling at her collar.

Kanda lay on the bed this time, hair spilling out beneath him. Any sane girl would rape him there and then, Lavi had to conclude. Only his cousin wasn't sane. Lavi continued his work, still randomly spewing his comments. Kanda's eyes flickered from the camera to stare right past it, directly at Reiichi.

Reiichi stared back, unwilling to lose. There were those eyes again. Unreadable. His gaze became even more intense, but Reiichi stood her ground. The eyeliner on Kanda was certainly not helping her. His look was smoldering, of desire, of want,

Of _lust._

Her throat ran dry.

* * *

**Owari.**

About the pants? I'm not sure if those actually exist, but I'll be thrilled if they do. If anyone has ever heard the song _I can't take my eyes off your pants_ from **Whose Line Is It Anyway**, you know how much I was laughing at poor Allen.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I debated a while if this should be up, but here you go. I am sad to say that even though two weeks ago I ended my exams, but in a month's time I will be taking ANOTHER stretch of exams. And that's not the last one for the year D;

Hence I haven't got around to typing finish the next chapter. I'm not exactly sure when it can be typed out so please forgive me if this fic goes on an unintentional hiatus… like all my other incomplete fics.

A big thank you to those who reviewed and read thus far! I really appreciate it.

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

Monday was hectic. First, Reiichi was made to listen to Yukina-sensei's very important lecture about maintaining her grade or else she won't be able to graduate. Honestly, when she agreed to do her final exam piece in conjunction with the current project she had now, she was totally lying. Her final exam piece wasn't just about making one design. It was a whole runway worth. She needed at least a month to think, draw and finally make every single piece, not to mention the time she would need to help fit the clothes onto her models. A month would actually be rushing it already. The deadline would be just after her stint with Lavi, so that meant that she had to force herself to multitask, or she was screwed.

Secondly, when she stepped into the classroom she immediately spotted Matsumoto Junki wearing a very familiar pair of jeans. It was beige and black. It was the one she designed for Kanda. She was in the middle of a crowd as usual, proclaiming her self-inserted inspiration to her classmates who lapped it up and compared it with the new copy _Mugen_ in hand.

"Of course, since Kanda-sama wanted it, I couldn't deny," she was saying. "Even if Reiichi did absolutely nothing but to steal my own design-"

"Stop lying Matsumoto," Reiichi stalked up to her, fist trembling in rage. "Everyone knows that those pants are copyrighted _mine_."

"Oh ho," she laughed, batting her eyelashes. "You're wrong." She shoved a picture into Reiichi's face, one that showed herself wearing those exact pants. "You'll see that the date goes back a year before you actually self proclaimed designed those pants. I've worn them before, as you can see."

Reiichi couldn't argue with that, but she knew Matsumoto was playing dirty. "You b-"

"Settle down, class," Yukina sensei strolled in just as the bell rang.

Matsumoto returned to her respective seat, but not before sending Reiichi a smug look that Reiichi wanted to wipe the floor with.

Once class was over, Reiichi headed to the foyer. Suddenly it seemed like the studio felt more like her home than this school ever did. She was safe and comfortable there, with Lavi around. As expected, Reiichi spied Matsumoto following her.

What she did not expect, was the huge crowd of reporters standing at the foyer. When they spotted her they rushed towards her, overwhelming her as they stuck various microphones in her face.

"Kuroshi-san, your recent set design in Mugen have caused an uproar i-"

"-critics seem to love your des-"

"-I have some rumours about plagiarism from the Matsumoto family-"

"-what is exactly your relationship with photographer Lavi-"

There was a loud step behind them all, and everyone paused to turn around. Kanda in his gorgeous self, was decked out in a polo and berms. White leather shoes complimented his outfit, and his hair was pulled back into a low pony tail. He wore his favourite Chanel aviators. The model stepped out of his car that just pulled into the driveway, catching the attention of everybody around. Kanda loved the fact that attention was so easily spent on him. Crowds were always easier to control.

But it usually backfired, he thought, as reporters started to tear away from Reiichi to crowd around him.

"Kanda-sama, regarding your latest shoot with Kuroshi Reiichi-"

"-what are your thoughts on the project-"

"-about the Matsumoto rumor, how has that tarnished your ima-"

Kanda ignored the questions like a true professional, shoving reporters that came too close to him away. He managed to grab Reiichi who was still stunned in a stupor, and hauled her towards his car, pushing her in before getting back into the driver's seat himself.

"I don't fucking care if I run you over," he muttered, stepping on the pedal.

It was a good ten minutes before Reiichi actually _breathed._ "That was the scariest thing I've ever experienced, not counting your driving."

"Ha ha," Kanda snorted sarcastically. "Better thank me for saving your ass back there."

"Thank you," her gratefulness was genuine. "I didn't expect you to. Why are you chauffeuring me again?"

Kanda paused pursing his lips as though he remembered something he'd rather forget.

"..If I go there without you, the usagi would whine to me on how his beloved _Rei-chan_ could have been kidnapped or raped while trying to get to the studio, and then he would beg in that irritating voice of his to go find you, and if I refuse, he would continue to whine, whine, whine, whine, whine, whine, whine, whine-"

"Okay I get it," Reiichi signaled for Kanda to stop with the monologue.

"I'm glad you see it my way," Kanda stated blandly.

They drove in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Reiichi wondered about the reporters. "Is it normal?"

"You haven't been keeping up with the news, have you?" Kanda shot her an incredulous look. "If you're going to stay in this industry, better keep up with it."

"I've been busy," she defended. Busy sleeping over the weekend. "So what's new?"

Kanda made an irritated noise as though saying this was the one and only time he was going to indulge her."Critics loved your expression on lust. Well some didn't like it, but that's natural. They want to see your progress with the other themes, so they'll be watching you closer than before. Those… pants… also started off a new fashion trend."

Reiichi was surprised. She knew it was a good idea, but never did she believe that it was good enough to _trend_.

"That's good to hear."

"One more thing," he continued, smoothly turning into the highway. "The Matsumoto group is trying to sue you for copyright reasons about those pants."

"…just because she has a lot of money, she thinks she can do anything she wants.." Reiichi wrinkled her nose in disgust. "She showed me some picture of her wearing those pants a year ago. I think she'd use that as evidence."

"If those were edited, it'll be easy as hell to find out,"

"She could pay people to keep quiet,"

"We could pay people to talk," he smirked easily back at her. "We hold the largest share in the industry, don't forget that."

* * *

Once she entered the studio, she was immediately enveloped in a warm hug that she recognized was Lavi.

"Rei-chan~ It has been forever~"

"Two days actually," she reminded him, but hugged him back with equal fervor.

Kanda decided to step past the reunited pair, trying not to puke at the over displayed affection. The relatives released each other, and that was when Reiichi noticed what Lavi was wearing. It was a similar style to the one she made for Kanda, but instead of beige it was white with a black stripe running down each side. Lavi caught her curious look.

"Komui would like to discuss with you about using the pants for one of our clothing lines. This is one of the trial patterns the Innocence design team came up with," He twirled around to give her a better look. "What cha think?"

"I don't mind,"

"Of course, you'll be paid a share of the profits. Once we charge the Matsumoto group for fraud, we're good to go! We're already working on the evidence," Lavi grinned. "So don't worry your pretty head over it."

"… thanks," Reiichi didn't know what to say. It seemed like everyone was trying to help her in their own special way. She felt moved.

"Alright, let's get down to business," the red head continued. "Your theme for this week is _Gluttony_."

Reiichi slowly smiled. This theme seemed to be much easier than previous one. She already had an idea in mind.

"I'm not sure how you're going to do this one because Yuu isn't exactly _fat_-"

"Obviously not," the model defended. "Tch."

"It's a common misconception that gluttony equals to obesity," Reiichi cut in. "Don't worry, I have this one figured out."

"Good," Kanda couldn't resist adding in his two cents. "I'd hate you see you try and _experience_ being obese."

Reiichi ignored him. "I'm going back to school," she announced. "I think I can do Kanda's set tomorrow. I need to start on my final year project."

"Actually…" Lavi smiled sheepishly. "You're going shopping with Kanda today because I have a shoot to do today."

The designer blinked. "….come again?" She half heartedly laughed to herself. "Did you say 'shopping'"?

"Yes- YUU HOLD HER DOWN!" Lavi lunged to catch her as Reiichi tried to run towards the elevator. Kanda's quick reflexes caught her easily and his strong grip did not waver.

"Kanda, I'm begging you for once in my life, let. Me. Go. Now." She hissed, trying desperately to claw off his hand off her wrist.

He merely smirked at her displeasure. "No."

"Rei-chan~"

"No means no, Lavi,"

"But you need some dresses-"

"Did Kanda brainwash you into doing this?" she snarled. "So what if I don't dress like His impeccable Highness?"

"If you've realized by now," Kanda sneered. "You're going to be invited to various events, and you're going to embarrass yourself if you don't change your wardrobe."

"What's wrong with my choice of outfits?" Reiichi asked, clearly offended.

"Nothing, if it's casual wear. The events are formal – get it into your thick skull- and I'm betting that you don't have any formal outfits in your wardrobe of yours."

"How many events are you talking about?" She did have one or two nice dresses she sewed on a sudden whim.

"Meeting the fashion press weekly, various interviews with magazines who might want to talk to you, charity fashion events, fashion shows-"

"You're supposed to meet the press yesterday, but we figured you wouldn't want to, so we're postponing it till after this set," Lavi quipped. "You're also supposed to attend the Yves Saint Laurent fashion show this Wednesday night. Don't forget the charity ball on Saturday too,"

"That many in just one week?"

Kanda sighed. This girl definitely did not know what she was getting into. "_Yes._ You should have been prepared for this right from the start, if you wanted your name to be big."

"I don't have to attend all the shows, do I-"

"Before," Kanda interrupted. "You were a poor school girl who had no connections to grace these events. Now you're under temporary contract with _Innocence_. It would be ridiculous if you didn't attend these events."

"But.. school work.."

"Lavi warned you, didn't he?" He pursed his lips in irritation, daring her to continue. She didn't. "We are going shopping," he decided with finality.

* * *

"I can just make my own clothes!" Reiichi was still desperately trying to get away.

Kanda thought it was highly uncharacteristic of a fashion designer to hate the thing she was involved in the most. It was extremely, extremely weird, because all the girls he knew _loved _shopping. It was like their paradise.

"As if you have the time," Kanda felt like he was babysitting a six year old. "Weren't you bitching about how much school work is undone?"

Reiichi fell silent. She was doomed to her fate. She knew it was ironic that given her profession, she would hate shopping. But it was also precisely why she hated shopping. She'd always have the urge to modify whatever piece of clothing she saw, or that she kept seeing pieces whose workmanship weren't up to par. What made today worse was that they were going for formal dresses. Reiichi didn't do formal parties. She liked making those elaborate dresses for people to ogle at, but she didn't fancy herself wearing them. It made her feel somewhat fake; all dolled up to perfection.

Soon she found herself outside a relatively large boutique, The Order. She knew this was where the rich and famous went for their clothes. It stocked the latest runway seasons and each piece was unique to the world. The prices, as expected, were also sky high.

"Good afternoon, Kanda-sama, Kuroshi-sama." A man in his mid-30s opened the glass doors for them, bowing respectfully. "I'm Crowley, and I'm at your service for today."

Did I forget to mention it was personalized service?

The boutique was elaborate. Marble tiled the floor, a deep mahogany were the walls. Rows and rows of various clothing lined the store. They walked deeper in, and Reiichi spotted another area which was piled with shoes.

Kanda sat himself down at one of the leather seats in the middle of the room. "Go on, pick anything you want."

Reiichi looked unsurely around.

"Kuroshi-sama, would you like some assistance?" Crowley smiled warmly at her.

"Um, I'm supposed to get a formal dress..."

"More than one," Kanda snapped. "You can't wear the same thing twice."

"I'm not used to this okay!" Reiichi spat back. "I've never done such high class personalized service shopping!"

Kanda sighed loudly. This girl was giving him more trouble than he thought. He waved Crowley away. "I'll handle it."

"As you wish," Crowley bowed once more, disappearing into the backroom.

He watched the model and designer inconspicuously, amused. It has been quite a while since Kanda brought a girl here, and it wasn't Lenalee either. He liked Kuroshi, she seemed to be down to earth, unlike most of the rich and famous who demanded everything and anything. It was a good change.

Kanda shifted through one of the clothing stacks while Reiichi was doing the same with another line.

"Expensive…"she mumbled to herself as she glanced at the hefty price tag. "You're not... paying for me, are you?"

"Of course not," Kanda snorted. "I'm putting it on usagi's tab."

"Because that makes me feel a tad bit better," Reiichi did not like to take advantage of the fact that Lavi was earning quite a bit. He was already paying her school fees, not to mention pocket money.

"Suck it up, Rei," Kanda did not see her point of view. "You should exploit your rich cousin's bank account."

After a few minutes of rummaging through the clothes, Kanda had three dresses in hand. Reiichi was empty handed. The designs were beautiful, of course. They were made from all the notable designers but she felt… odd… wearing one of these expensive dresses.

"Are you even a designer or not?" Kanda raised an eyebrow at her lack of choices.

"I-"

"Here," he thrust the clothes into her hands before she could say anything. "And take this one too."

He held up a gorgeous off the shoulder black satin piece that was twisted nicely into a bow in the front, and it flowed smoothly down.

"This one?" Reiichi scrutinized it. It would come up to mid thigh, she deduced. "It's too short."

"Do you want to pick them out yourself?" Kanda huffed. She was wasting his time. "Because we can stay here all day if we have to."

Reiichi took on an annoyed expression but snatched the piece off his hands, storming to the changing room to try on the dresses. A few moments later she came out wearing the black piece she deemed too short.

She had one hand clutching the bust line of the dress and the other hand trying to pull the dress down to cover more of her legs. She was relatively tall, so the dress came up even shorter than she expected.

"Well?" she promoted the raven haired model who was staring at her with his unreadable expression again.

"Stop pulling on it," he ordered and she let go and stood properly, feeling awkward under his gaze.

Reiichi wasn't as pretty as the female models he was used to, but there was no denying that she looked stunning in that number. Her well defined collarbone stood out nicely, accentuating her slender neck and smooth shoulders. The dress came up to slightly higher than mid thigh, showing off her lean legs. She blinked, her eyes seemingly sparkling with innocence. Everyone would be staring at her, and Kanda knew it.

"Too short." He decided that he didn't want her to wear it after all.

"I told you," Reiichi clucked her tongue in irritation.

She went back in to try on a different one, and every time she came out Kanda always had something to say about it. She was getting frustrated. Wasn't he the one who chose her these? His Highness was very fickle minded today.

She came out with the last dress, a dark green long flowing dress that was layered at the bottom. An artistic splatter of crystals decorated the bust area and a V shaped strap kept the piece on her body. The back was low cut, exposing her skin, only covered by a thin weave similar to that of a corset.

"…too revealing," was Kanda's conclusion.

At this point, Reiichi had enough. "Kanda," she started off sweetly, but it was dripping with acidic honey. "WHAT'S THE POINT IF GIVING ME ALL THESE TO TRY IF YOU'RE GOING REJECT THEM ANYWAY?"

Kanda didn't answer. Reiichi slammed the changing room door to change back to her original clothing. Shopping was a bad idea.

Kanda sat back thoughtfully into the leather chair. It's only because Lavi had warned him not to choose anything too scandalous for Rei, right? It was the right thing to do, even if all the dresses he picked suited Rei well. It wasn't like he was getting _protective _over Rei, because that will happen when the apocalypse happened.

Perhaps a third point of view was needed.

"_Lenalee here."_

"Lenalee, are you free for a moment?"

"_Kanda-kun? Is that you? Well, this is certainly a surprise."_

"I… need your help with something."

"_Sure, where are you?"_

"The Order."

"_I'll be there in a few."_

Lenalee's high heels clicked as she entered The Order, Crowley holding the door open for her. "Good to see you again, Lenalee-sama."

"Likewise, Crowley-san," she smiled dazzlingly. "What's up with Kanda-kun?"

"He's having a little trouble with his companion today," he explained, amusement could be heard in his tone. "

Lenalee giggled and waved him off. "I'll see if I can be of help."

She entered into the area where Kanda and Reiichi were at. She surveyed them both. They were sitting at a respectful distance on the leather chairs, speaking to each other quietly. It was the first time she saw Kanda actually willing to participate in a conversation, although it looked like Kanda was trying to insult the girl with that smirk on his face and the girl answering back with controlled annoyance.

Both of them spotted her at the same time. Lenalee extended a hand towards the red haired girl.

"I'm Lenalee Lee,"

"I know," Reiichi smiled. She was cute, in Lenalee's opinion. "You're prettier in person. I'm Kuroshi Reiichi."

"Ah, the one that did last week's cover? I liked it a lot."

"Thank you." Reiichi smiled bashfully. She had seen the female model in numerous fashion shoots in her line of study. Lenalee was really gorgeous, even more so than the pictures she saw in _Mugen_. Her midnight green tinged hair flowed in perfect slight curls down to her waist; her eyes were big and expressive. Even her lips were full and shiny, complexion fair and perfect. Definitely model material.

Even what she wore today was no exception. She went for a knee length sun dress that showed off her bubbly personality. The only thing that Reiichi felt uncomfortable about was her six inch high heels. How did she even wear those without tripping?

"So how can I help today?" Lenalee beamed.

"She needs at least seven weeks worth of formal attire," Kanda answered.

"That should be easy,"

Kanda and Reiichi glanced at each other with a common understanding. It was _not _easy.

"I'll take it from here," the female model guided Reiichi towards the rows of clothes once more. "Kanda-kun, you go be useful and buy us a drink alright?"

That was Lenalee's subtle order of leaving them alone.

"Che. Fine," and he left without another word.

Left alone together, Lenalee turned to Reiichi with an intensity that scared her. Her eyes were on fire as she advanced closer.

"W-what?"

"Hmmm. Your eyes are really pretty," she commented. "We should bring out the colour of those orbs."

Reiichi stood back as Lenalee looked through the various designs like a true professional. Ten minutes later she shoved Reiichi into the dressing room with a dress in hand. Once Reiichi came out, Lenalee would already be standing there either nodding in approval or shaking her head, but Reiichi was always given a new piece to try, and so it continued like that for what seemed like hours.

"This is the last piece," Lenalee passed the fabric to her. "I think it'll look awesome on you."

It was the same one she and Kanda rejected as too short. "I've tried this one already. Kanda and I agree that it's too revealing."

"Nonsense," Lenalee wouldn't hear it. "If I say it's good, it's good. Go on, I want to see."

Reiichi came out a few minutes later, and let herself be scrutinized once again.

Lenalee was grinning madly. "I can see why Kanda-kun didn't want you to wear it."

"Is it that bad?" Reiichi winced, trying to pull it longer.

"On the contrary, actually," Lenalee was still smiling. "You're getting this one."

Reiichi didn't have any say as Lenalee handed twenty different dresses to Crowley.

"That's.. too much, don't you think, Lenalee?" Reiichi raised an eyebrow at the amount that her cousin was going to splurge on her.

"No, it's fine. You can't wear anyone of those twice, or the media will rip you apart." Lenalee stated seriously before dragging Reiichi further into the boutique.

"Where are we going?"came Reiichi's slightly panicked voice. Wasn't it over already?

"To get shoes of course!" Lenalee chuckled as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You have to get a pair to match each of those dresses."

This was never going to end, Reiichi decided. Clothe shopping was bad, but shoe shopping was worse. And it was going to be all the more horrible since she was going to wear heels. It wasn't like she didn't appreciate what heels could do for an image, but just not on her. They hurt her feet especially if she was standing for quite some time. The back of the heels also usually cut into her delicate skin at the back of her foot since she was not used to wearing them at all. Not to mention the countless possibilities of embarrassing moments if she tripped. As she expected, Lenalee zero-ed in on the six inch heels.

"I can't," Reiichi protested. "Can I just wear flats instead?"

"Quit bitching," a familiar baritone caught the attention of the two ladies.

Kanda was back, holding two cups of hot drinks in hand. Lenalee took one gratefully, sipping at it delicately. Reiichi placed her on a convenient table nearby to drink later.

"You don't have to wear these killer shoes, so don't talk to me," Reiichi snapped.

Kanda was about to retort but Lenalee beat him to it. "Don't test Kanda-kun, Rei. You'd be surprised at what he can do."

"If he can walk in those heels, I'll be a good girl," she muttered.

"It's just shoes," Kanda scoffed. You're being immature."

"Says the male who doesn't have to suffer these abominations," scowled Rei. Lenalee giggled softly as Kanda began to smirk.

"The bet is on," he snapped his fingers for Crowley to bring him one of his size.

That was when Reiichi realized how stupid it was to challenge a model whose profession was all about confidence and balance, especially on the runway.

"I'm going to lose, aren't I?" she sighed tiredly.

"Yep," Lenalee smiled sympathetically. "I tried to warn you."

Rei stared in half fascination and half horror at how at ease Kanda slipped on the girly pair of heels. He caught her look and shot her a look of warning, daring her to laugh at his not so masculine display at the moment.

"If this gets out to Lavi, you're dead," he hissed.

True to his confidence, Kanda strutted in front of them his amazing prowess with balance, not even stumbling in the slightest.

"This may surprise you, but Kanda-kun has actually modeled for female clothing lines, during his younger days when he looked so androgynous," Lenalee explained.

Reiichi would have laughed, but her eyes were focused on the model walking in front of her. He sauntered with poise, as if he knew how much people liked to watch him. His figure garnered even more attention then he usually did, and it was impossible to not look at him. Vaguely she could see a little on how different he walked on and off the runway.

"Fine," Reiichi gave up. There was no winning against the models.

* * *

**Owari.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Huzzah! I managed to finish up this chapter because this coming Monday is actually my country's National Day. 45 years of independence whoo~ That also means I have Monday and Tuesday off *confetti*I am quite happy. Unfortunately, two tests are waiting for me when school starts on Wednesday. D:

I'm glad I got this up anyway. Enjoy~

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

"What's up with your _face_?" was predictably the first thing Kanda said to her.

Reiichi ignored him, sliding into the passenger seat. It had became a normal routine for her to expect the black car at the foyer after class, and it had been there without fail. Kanda was such a time geek. She pulled the seatbelt over and buckled it, but Kanda made no move to drive.

"Seriously, you look like you were bitch-slapped," he stared at the four streaks of red on her left cheek.

Reiichi covered the side of her face, leaning towards the window. "None of your business," she muttered sourly. "Just go."

With each passing day Matsumoto seemed to take a deeper personal grudge against her. Yesterday she found her sketches for the Gluttony set out of her folder and scattered on the common bathroom floors, wet and torn. Today Matsumoto sabotaged the fabric she was going to use for one of their experimental pieces, bringing her more trouble with Yukina-sensei. And when she went up to Matsumoto to confront her about it, she merely took the role of a victim and Reiichi suffered a lecture by Leverrier who was conveniently walking past.

What made it more insufferable was that Mastumoto had the gall to find her afterwards and physically assault her, just because her own parents found out that she faked the evidence and thereby jeopardized the family's name.

_It's her own fault, that bitch. _Reiichi wanted to break something in sight, but everything in sight belonged to Kanda. _At least the Matsumoto fraud case is solved. That's the only good thing that came out of it. Then again, there wouldn't have been that problem if Matsumoto didn't exist._

"If your fingers leave any marks on my seats, you're paying for full replacements," Kanda glanced coolly at her.

Reiichi pursed her lips, but she relaxed her grip.

The drive throughout was kept in silence, because Reiichi refused to talk. She seemed distracted to Kanda, staring out blankly into the side window. The red marks on her face probably had something to do with it, thought Kanda. Well, it was really none of his business, as she said. But he could already anticipate the big fuss Lavi would kick up when he saw that.

When Lavi saw her, he pulled her gently into her workspace, closing the door shut, leaving Kanda to wander back into his own space. He was here for a shoot for Raul today, together with Lenalee. There was nothing to do until more people arrived, so he lay back on the couch in his room and enjoyed the silence.

Kanda hated music. More so because the radio kept playing happy bubbly songs which tried to bleed his ears, and also due to the fact that background noise was unneeded in his opinion. It was no surprise then that his space had no inkling of any stereo or CDs, a complete opposite to Lavi's.

But today the still silence felt uncomfortable.

Those four red lines on Rei's face… they definitely came from a slap. A girl's hand.

Which meant that she was either hit by her teacher, or a schoolmate. Kanda wouldn't put it past the stupid school to have stupid teachers (his bad impression of the school's board will forever be imprinted in his mind), but it seemed more likely for a certain Matsumoto to try something like this.

It was proven last night that Matsumoto Junki faked her claim on the design of those pants. In fact, it was so incredibly easy for_ Innocence_ to crack the case – hire two professional hackers to infiltrate the girl's bank statement accounts. Find the people she hired to do the dirty job for her and pay the same people to admit the truth. Too easy. The head of the Matsumoto group, Junki's father's expression of disbelief that his dear daughter had be lying was the most priceless, Komui had recounted gleefully. _Innocence_ didn't even need to charge them in court – her parents willingly paid a sum to keep things as low as it can.

Yes, the girl would be petty enough to hurt Rei about it.

Then again, it was_ none of his business_.

Kanda turned around to lie on his stomach. Why was everyone always _late_? He wanted the shoot done and over with. There was still the runway walk tonight.

* * *

Outside her workspace, a Raul photoshoot was on-going but Reiichi was more focused on her task. There was not going to be enough time if she was going for the Yves Saint Laurent fashion show tonight. It would have been easy if her sketches were nicely plied together for her reference, but because a certain _someone_ loved to make her life miserable, she was stuck detailing out the design again. It was troublesome because she decided a relatively elaborate piece this time, with small details that were not to be missed.

The set, she decided, was a rich Englishman tea party setting. Vaguely she was reminded of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, but Kanda suited the Queen of Hearts rather than the eccentric hat maker. The image she was going for this time was a little more cutesy and flirty. She didn't know how Kanda was going to pull it off, but since he's supposedly _top model_ material, she figured she'd let him impress her.

If he could.

But she wasn't going to take any bets, because the last time she doubted his ability, she was awarded with 20 different potential killer heels to wear, one of which was going to be worn tonight. She wasn't looking forward to it in the least.

The door of her workspace opened slightly. "Sorry to disturb you Rei," a sweet melodious voice floated. "May I come in?"

It was Lenalee, in a crisp white top and short denim shorts. The makeup from her shoot was still on, but it was slight, giving her a carefree aura.

"Sure," Reiichi smiled.

Lenalee stepped in confidently, curiously looking at her half finished mannequin that she was currently poking a lot of needles into. She gazed at the various sketches that Reiichi made, chuckling to herself.

"I can't imagine how cute Kanda-kun is going to look with that," she tapped lightly on the draft.

"I'm more worried if he can even pull off looking cute," Reiichi replied seriously to which Lenalee waved off.

"Have more confidence in your model," she said. "I've known him ever since we were young, but he still manages to deliver every time," the model laughed. "I stopped being surprised at being surprised."

Reiichi pulled out a stool for Lenalee to sit on.

"He has a lot of supporters," Reiichi commented, continuing her work. "It seems like everyone is telling me to appreciate him."

Lenalee nodded thoughtfully. "Well, maybe it's because Kanda-kun's looks sort of outshines his own talent and hard work, such that people don't remember that he earned his top model position."

Reiichi felt a stab of guilt at Lenalee's words. She was one of those people who assumed his quick rise to fame and status were merely because of his face, but Lenalee seemed earnest about defending him. Lenalee watched the girl quietly, noticing the sudden conflict that flickered in her eyes. Reiichi worked swiftly and boldly, sewing up the patterns she wanted with seeming ease. It was a while before Lenalee remembered why she went to find Reiichi in the first place.

"We're going the fashion show together," she told Reiichi. "Kanda-kun is walking the runway so he'll head there first-"

"Heading there from here?" Reiichi's eyes widened. "I haven't got anything to change into-"

"We got it covered," the model beamed reassuringly. "We'll call you when you have to get ready,"

Four hours later Reiichi sat back, admiring her creation. A white shirt with minute ruffles at the collar with a criss-crossed checkered light grey vest with tiny sew lines in the shape of cartoonish rabbits' heads pulled over, plus a light brown linen shorts with a similar pattern though lighter were the basis of the finished piece. On another mannequin, she had a much more elaborate half-finished overcoat in progress, as well as a blue tiny hat with black lace for the head piece.

It was going well.

Just as when she was about to continue on the overcoat, Lavi came bouncing in. Usually he'd head straight for her, but this time he stopped when he noticed what she had made so far. Slowly, a creepy grin came over his features and Reiichi decided that she rather not know, for her own sanity's sake.

"Yuu's gonna be so cute~" he was practically _squealing._

Reiichi wanted to say something, but he seemed to remember why he came in and dragged her out. Without a word he pushed her into the modeling changing room where she noticed Fou and Lenalee inside.

"I'll be waiting outside for you ladies," he grinning charmingly and floated away.

It was a whirlwind after that – Lenalee handed her the attire for the night and motioned for her to change. It was a mystery on how they managed to bring the dress from her dorm room, but she was betting on Lavi.

She was also forced into the makeup chair and Fou with her vicious glint in her eye, was set to do her magic on Rei. Twenty minutes later Lenalee was smiling encouragingly through the mirror towards her. The reflection of Kuroshi Reiichi stared back at the actual person. The reflection was quite different from what was the few minutes ago.

Her complexion was much smoother and the red marks were covered up, thanks to foundation, and her emerald eyes seemed to stand out strikingly, thanks to mascara and eyeliner. A little blush sported her cheeks and light shiny lip gloss took care of her lips. She looked more fresh, if she did say so herself. The make-up was not heavy or overdone, but instead carefully sculptured in just the right amount. Reiichi couldn't help but nibble at the gloss on her lips – she wasn't used to wearing makeup.

"Don't do that," Lenalee chided. The model and make-up artist ushered her to the full length mirror with great enthusiasm.

"I'd say you look pretty hot tonight, missy," Fou sat back admiringly on the chair.

It was a difference experience being the one to dress the model and being the model to be dressed, thought Reiichi. The girl in the mirror looked part of the fashion industry. Her red hair was straightened to a temporary soft rebond, giving her a classy sleek look. The dress Lenalee chose was a cute cream coloured dress that wrapped nicely around her figure. The front of the dress extended into a peculiar crisscross around her neck, a pattern that she and Lenalee thought was tasteful. It was a good gave her a pair of stringed diamonds for earrings plus the usual necklace she wore on her neck – a metallic ring on a choker – completed the outfit.

Lenalee handed her the pair of heels she had chose to go with this outfit – a six inch Salvatore Ferragamo with a red that matched her hair. Reiichi put it on, but stumbled immediately when she tried to stand.

"Maybe we should have started you off with the shorter heels," Lenalee hummed to herself.

Reiichi strained a slight smile. "Don't say I didn't tell you,"

Fou laughed. "Missy, you'll get used to it. Now's a better time than ever."

Reiichi walked experimentally around for a while before she deemed it was safe to leave the room. The two other ladies were way in front of her by the time she was across the set space.

"Girls," she called. "You're walking too fast."

"Rei, you're walking too slow," Lenalee giggled back, but she slowed her pace for Reiichi to catch up.

Lenalee and Reiichi made their way out of_ Innocence _glass doors unto the front porch where she spied a limo in the front waiting for them. Lavi was leaning against the door casually, humming to himself. He was decked out in a formal suit and tie combination, though his tie was a bright red that matched his hair. His eye patch was still on, but his hair was lightly gelled back, giving off a sleek classy feel. He immediately perked up when he saw the two ladies in his direction.

Lenalee reached him first, and he playfully kissed her hand.

"Looking beautiful as always, Lena-lady," he winked.

She sent him her dazzling smile, patting his cheek. "As you, Lavi."

Lavi turned towards Reiichi and predictably launched for a hug, who was still trying to keep up pace with them without showing her inadequacy in heels, as Lenalee caught the back of his suit in time.

"You're not allowed to mess up Fou's work," she chided.

Lavi was grinning too much to listen as his cousin stepped closer and he took her hand.

"I really don't get it," he said. "You're this beautiful and you don't have a boyfriend."

Reiichi shook her head as it was definitely not the first time her cousin has said this to her. Try _every single time _after he rants about her imaginary boyfriends. Which is practically,

Every. Single. Time.

Nontheless, she smiled at her cousin's affectionate ways. "You look good too."

Twenty minutes later Reiichi found herself ushered to a seat right in front of the stage. Lenalee was somewhere greeting her model friends and Lavi was busy fiddling with his camera that he brought along sitting beside her. Reiichi opted to stay in her seat since she wasn't exactly comfortable walking around with her heels on. The stage was simple but somehow exuded elegance with the trademark logo of _Yves Saint Laurent _in the background. There was a smaller crowd then she expected as the place they went into was relatively small, but Reiichi guessed that it was because this runway show was pretty exclusive.

Around her everyone was decked out in various designer labels, of which Reiichi was sure she would never be able to wear them unless Lavi splurged on her. A Birkin, a Gucci, a Hermes, Mulberry, Prada, Versace, Miu Miu – she saw it all. She was also pretty confident that the glittery necklaces or huge crystal rings she caught in sight cost more than her college fees ten times over.

Not knowing what to do, she strummed a careless tune on the edge of her seat.

"Excited, Rei-chan?" Lavi smiled at her.

"Sort of," she replied. "I've never entered a fashion show such as… elite… as this."

"I meant seeing Yuu on stage,"

"Oh," Actually, that had slipped her mind. "I guess."

Lavi looked discontented with her flippant remark, but didn't say anything. Soon announcement called all to their seats as the lights dimmed. A sudden hush fell upon the audience as the emcee strutted on stage and a spot light on him captured everyone's attention. Lenalee made into her seat just in time as he spoke.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen," his voice even carried a touch of aristocracy. "Welcome to the Yves Saint Laurent Summer 2010."

The lights suddenly went off, plunging the entire space into darkness before it illuminated the entrance of the long runway. A step was heard as a model turned from backstage to walk onto the runway, and there was a few seconds of stunned silence.

Kanda Yuu, in his entire glory, was the first one on stage. Usually the shows always started with the female clothing lines, but this time it was slightly different. Indeed, Kanda had a suggestively feminine piece donned on. He had on a black cardigan that draped on his shoulders, cancelling out his masculine definition of his arms. He wore a loose beige turtleneck underneath which was tucked into a relatively high waisted pair of white shorts that came up to mid thigh. It was made in such a way that it resembled a short pencil skirt, but two slits at the edge of the shorts showed otherwise. Even his shoes were decidedly feminine. They were sleek in nature that gave off the impression of female shoes.

He looked straight ahead and started walking, confident in his own poise and walk. His hair was obviously meticulously cared for as they flowed softly behind him as he strutted. He hooked his thumbs into the shorts, and a very slight tinge of a smile graced his features.

Snapping out of their stupor, photographers jumped out of their seats and launched for a better position as numerous flashes of light went off and murmuring increased.

Reiichi couldn't really believe her eyes. _This_. This, was Kanda Yuu. The very same person whom she classified as intimidating and socially arrogant, was walking on stage with a carefree relaxed aura that practically radiated off him. He actually came across as content, as though this was his summer that he was going to enjoy. Even if the clothes were particularly experimental, but Kanda was definitely pulling the look off. Instead of looking like a drag queen that most would have done, he carried it off like natural. It was difficult to explain, but Reiichi was starting to see his versatility.

Kanda came to the very end of the runway, pausing a customary few seconds to show off his piece. His eyes flickered to the very front row where she was sitting at, and she saw him smiling in their general direction.

Like he was _happy_.

Was the world ending?

Lavi who was crouched in front of her with his camera waved back enthusiastically, shouting his declared confessions of adoration.

Kanda sauntered back down the runway and pretty soon he disappeared into backstage. A row of female models immediately came out one after another, showing off Yves' collection for females in summer.

Reiichi appreciated his designs, she really did. But her thoughts couldn't stop wandering back to Kanda in his unexpected outfit. Since when could he pull that kind of look off? It actually felt like he was bringing out the intention of the designer's thoughts when he showed it off – _Summer is great, and this is a great piece to wear for summer_.

Is this the reason why he was a _top model_?

Pretty soon, the line of female models exited into backstage, and Kanda stepped out on the runway again. This time, he wore a long white trench coat that cross over his chest like a yukata, and the flow of the fabric swished behind him and he walked forward. He was wearing white gladiator sandals – a trend that Reiichi thought was horrible but surprisingly was fit to this outfit. Again, his posture was relaxed as he coolly strutted on the runway.

It was something about the way that he walked that was mesmerizing. Even if it was just one leg in front of the other, but he strode as though had something that everyone wanted, and everyone did want it. Maybe, Reiichi had a thought flow through her mind, maybe, everyone just wanted to imprint the way the fabric practically worshipped him. There was really no denying the certain style that he carried off the clothes.

It was like saying, "If Kanda can do it, I probably can too."

Perhaps that was another reason he was in such a high demand.

The lights went off again after he left the stage, and a few minutes later he came out again, this time wearing a leather jacket over a black inner piece that was detailed like a vest. He wore tailored grey pants and leather shoes, complete with sunglasses to complete the look. This time, he was smirking slightly, and his walk because a little more… manly. Reiichi could feel it – the dominance, the power that you'd get if you wore what he wore. Kanda stopped at the edge of the stage again to pose, this time twirling around in a swift motion and pulling his jacket off.

Reiichi swore she heard some females screaming, but by then the whisperings had increased so much. The inner black piece was sleeveless, showing off his well toned arm muscles.

Even as the rest of the male models came on stage, it seemed like Kanda's first impression was the one that everyone would remember. It did help that Kanda was generally the only Asian in the entire group of models. After a while, the models started to look similar yet Kanda stood strikingly apart. It was also his ungodly silky long hair that differentiated him from the rest.

Kanda came out again to end the line of male clothing. It was a classic suit. Reiichi swallowed, because she knew suits where her weakness. She appreciated the air of intellectual manliness and professional confidence that suits seemed to accentuate. His hair was tied low at his nape, and his face was framed into a stone cold too-cool-to-touch expression. It seemed as though success was trailing right behind this very person begging to be picked up.

Kanda locked gazes with her as he came to the edge.

It was the same kind of eyes she saw during the Lust photoshoot. Deep dark mysterious blue depths. At the same time, it was like saying he knew it all along that she would eventually appreciate the way he modeled. She stared back, look unflinching. She did learn a little more today, but it would never be enough for her to become a shameless fangirl.

However, it seemed that Kanda could to do anything. She actually couldn't wait how he was going to surprise her in the Gluttony shoot.

* * *

**Owari.**

This chapter seems a bit short to me. I beg for forgiveness if I've gotten a runway show wrong, because I really have no idea how it's really like. The clothes Kanda is wearing are actually really from the Yves Saint Laurent line, though the first two were female pieces.

Thank you for the reviews, readers. 3.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: WHAT AM I DOING?

*headdesk*

My prelims (read: exams) are next week but I'm been so distracted lately D:

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

Reiichi couldn't hold it in anymore. She tried. She was really trying! But the picture that the man –now boy – made in front of her was just too… indescribable really.

She laughed.

The more Kanda looked at his own reflection in the mirror, the hotter his face felt. He had on the piece for the shoot, and in all ways did it flatter him unimaginably. The frilly inner shirt and outer vest made him look like a young boy at boarding school, and the shorts, oh god, the shorts, were shorter than his usual berms. It was mid thigh! He was a _man_ mind you, and men don't go off showing their knees to everyone.

Especially not Kanda.

It really did not help when the resounding pattern of the clothes were _light pink_ and in the shape of _bunnies_. Needless to say, he was horrified beyond words. But Reiichi wasn't finished. She managed to pull a straight face as she draped an overcoat over him. Black, it was, thankfully. Not thankfully was that it was tinged with elaborate mini frills that accentuated his immature young boy image.

He was twenty.

He looked like a fucking 10 year old.

Oh god.

"So, comfortable?" The mastermind behind this stood at his side pulling at the sleeves, nodding whenever she felt satisfied and moving on to another part of him.

Kanda didn't answer her, but instead let her do whatever she wanted. A few moments later, Reiichi realized Kanda was not responding at all and peered at his face. His expression was a mix of disbelief and growing embarrassment, not to mention the uprising of his infamous temper.

"… What were you thinking?" His voice was low and deep, and he was raising it soon enough. "Fuck that, you weren't thinking at all, were you?"

Reiichi sighed. Really, why was he so picky?

"Kanda, I don't have time to do another one seeing that the shoot is tomorrow," She reminded him. "And I don't really care if you like it or not. Haven't we been through this before?"

The model shrugged off the overcoat which she caught just in time before it hit the floor. Pointing exaggeratedly at himself, he snapped, "Enlighten me then. How is making me look like some _brat_ related to Gluttony?"

"At least you got the brat part right," she replied in all seriousness. "The idea is overconsumption. I obviously can't make you look fat, so I went with the next best thing. I have this image of rich young masters who are constantly spoiled by their parents, so gluttony, is basically consuming more than what you should, which is mostly what brats like them would do."

Kanda mulled it over. It did make sense, but still…

"I'm not wearing this," He was adamant.

"Just what is so wrong with it?" Reiichi wanted to strangle him. Why couldn't he be cooperative for once? "It looks exactly how it should on you. In fact, I'm surprised that you actually pulled the look off, because you look… cute… as much as it pains me to say it."

"Exactly," Kanda raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to feel flattered because you think I'm _cute_?"

"I don't think you're cute," she retorted, already knowing how her little compliment sounded like to him. "I think that this outfit makes you_ look_ cute."

This girl was not seeing his point of view. "Woman," he sighed exasperatedly. "I'm twenty. Male. Not cute."

"Rei-cha- OH MY GOD~~"

Both of them whipped their heads to the door upon the disturbing squeal. Lavi was sparkling. A big stupid grin was slowly forming on his face and Kanda knew trouble when he saw it, especially when it was bright red flaming in his face. Lavi bounded up happily to both of them as Kanda slowly backed away, creeped out.

"Yuu-chan~" Lavi giggled, because it was so apt to call him that now. "You look so cute!"

"I'M NOT CUTE!" Kanda screamed, because it seemed like the two relatives had skulls thick enough to rival the earth's crust. Especially the male counterpart.

"Rei-chan, don't you think so too?" He slung an arm over her shoulder, still grinning manically.

"… I guess so," she shrugged non-committedly.

She was lying, because she _knew _so. As Lenalee predicted, Kanda was astounding her yet again. She knew his image was luxurious and sexy, so she took this theme as an excuse to try something that seemed to be totally out of his element. A cute little boy for an image. Even with his normal persona, she could already see an ill tempered brat in his place, and right now he looked like an innocent young boy scared of big bully Lavi.

How was it that he was able to carry off what she wanted to portray so well? Was it skill? Or was it talent?

Gosh he looked so… _adorable_ … and she had a slight weakness for cute things. It almost made her want to hug him. Almost, because she had enough self restraint to remember that this was the Kanda Yuu whom was not someone to hug in her books.

_He's not cute. Not cute. Not cute._ She chanted in her head, making sure that her expression did not give anything away.

Lavi left her in favour of chasing Kanda for a hug who was dodging his attempts but failing as the taller man wrapped his arms around the raven, squeezing him as hard as he could with Kanda trying to break free of the hold.

"So cute~" Lavi cooed, totally ignoring the death threats Kanda was currently cursing him with obscenely.

* * *

Much to Kanda's displeasure, he was wearing the damned outfit the next day. Fou took one look at him and immediately snickered loudly, not caring at all for his manly pride.

"You could rival the white cutie," she smirked. "Missy, I'm proud of you."

"I'm not_ ten_," he sneered.

"Allen's not ten either," Reiichi rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, he's eight, my bad."

The designer ignored his retort to concentrate on the issue on hand. "Give him a loose French braid."

"Mmm," Fou ran her fingers through his hair contemplating. "Sounds good. I'm assuming you want it a little messy?"

"Yeah," Reiichi nodded. "Like a kid who doesn't care much for tidiness."

"Kid, she said," Fou snickered, paying no heed at Kanda's glare through the mirror.

"Shut it woman."

20 minutes later, Kanda was looking more the part than she thought. The French braid gave him a slight air of aristocracy, but its slight messiness softened the look to a more innocent aura that of a child. His cheeks sported a tinge of blush, expression twisted into one of sulkiness. She pinned the small blue hat on his head, and he was ready. She threw him a challenging look, and he returned it with one of his stuck up arrogant looks.

Kanda knew that this was also one of the reasons why he chose her. She was someone who was not afraid to make something he didn't like and make him wear it anyway. Most designers would be too busy trying to fulfill his expectations to create something as unconventional and weird as what Reiichi would. The girl did not care who he was. She expected him to carry off what she made, not the other way around. Kanda was fine with that.

As much as he hated how he looked like, he was professional enough to go through it.

He was _Kanda Yuu_ dammit.

His hands reached for the knob first and swung it open violently, stepping into the set space. Immediately he saw Lavi's perked up and excited face and decided it would be better just not looking at the said photographer. He was never going to live this down. Off the set, he could already hear the Moyashi's blatant laughter as everyone else was stunned into silence.

"Ba-ka-chan~" Allen grinned maliciously, waving.

Kanda turned on his heated glare, promising death after his shoot. He made way to the set – a British tea party? – and sat down on one of the elaborate comfy chairs. The table was in a similar style, decorated with an expensive tea set with a brewed tea that smelled delicious. On the plates, there were various assortments of cake and pastry, all mouth watering. Over consumption, did she say? He poured himself a cup of tea and sipped at it, making himself at home.

Lavi caught his intention and started firing away with his camera, gesturing to the assistants to move the lighting in various places. Kanda picked up a fork and speared a cake piece, bringing it up to scrutinize it.

"Eat it, Yuu-chan~" Lavi urged.

Kanda grimaced, because he hated sweet things, and this cake certainly looked like it was made of sugar. Lavi captured that face anyway, laughing as he reviewed the picture in his camera. The model looked exactly like a selfish brat unsatisfied with his choice of food. He ate it anyway, nearly swallowing it whole in order to prevent himself from retching out the stupid piece of dessert. But he pretended that he enjoyed it, pulling the fork out of his mouth slowly and letting his tongue carcass the crumbs on the fork.

Off set, Reiichi gaped.

Sitting with Allen at the other side of the space, she was watching Kanda's performance. Allen had done yet another incredible good job, because the setting fit exactly to what she wanted. The actual food on table wasn't her idea, but it certainly did bring out what she was trying to portray and Kanda was using it to his advantage.

The man decked in his outfit certainly was an unusual image to behold. The shorts especially, while the previous time it was just a play on his thigh line, showed off his blessed features for even his legs looked strangely not odd and perfect. She chose for him a black pair of shoes and high socks, which made him look even younger. She watched intently as a Kanda leaned forward over the cake varieties, careful to maintain contact with the camera as he modeled. His hair worked perfectly for him, and the light blush made him look cuter than he already was.

And with how he ate his food, Reiichi was not sure how he managed to pull off sexy and cute at the same time. It was just not humanly possible.

Allen was still trying to stifle his laughter, no doubt from his glee that he finally had something to blackmail Kanda with. He glanced at Reiichi who was in rapt concentration with the model on set, and he smiled. He could see that she was slowly appreciating him.

Maybe Lavi's scheme was working out after all.

* * *

Reiichi was making a beautiful bustier dress that had inklings of the Victorian era for her final exam showcase. It was the third piece she was working on, and there were seven more pieces to do in four weeks. She was doomed.

But she concentrated on her current piece. She used a material she dug out from her workspace's closet which shimmered a beautiful blue and green at various angles. The cups of the dress had intricate black embroidery that she was trying get right, and the back of the dress was held by a corset style bind that cut across diagonally. It was a short dress, with the material twisted into ruffles at the bottom.

She was in her dorm room with her work materials spread about haphazardly on the floor, including her scissors and cutter and all kinds of sharp objects. Normally she hated working in such a small space, but she got increasingly paranoid as days passed and as Matsumoto's hatred to her grew. She was not taking any chances to let Matsumoto sabotage anything. Her final exam pieces were cluttered at one corner of the room including the mannequins it was on. She really did not know how to fit 10 mannequins in, but she'd manage that when time came.

There was a rhythmic pattern of knocks that sounded from the door and she knew who it was. There was only one person who was stupid, I mean, unique, enough to bother with little things like that.

Lavi.

She let him in, and predictedly he hugged her the moment she opened the door.

"Hey Rei-chan~ Haven't seen you since yesterday~" he smiled. "We'll leave once you're ready,"

She returned the affectionate gesture, but stepped back when she realized what he was wearing. It was formal attire, which meant that he shouldn't be hugging people lest it crumples. Ah well, Lavi didn't seem to care.

"Mind your step," she warned, leading him through the dangerous mine field of her dorm floor to the bed.

Lavi sat himself on the bed as Reiichi moved to clear her things off the floor.

He was looking at the dress she was working on and grinned. It fitted exactly with tonight's charity ball theme. With his photographic memory he could already imprint the dress on Reiichi, and he knew she'd look awesome in it. It would show off her legs that she always covered with long jeans, as well as her shoulders. Kanda was going to love it. (He thinks.)

"You should wear this," he gushed, gesturing to the dress.

Reiichi ignored his comment and opened her closet door to reveal the 20 formal dresses she owned with his money. "Help me pick one."

"No, no, Rei-chan," the red head insisted, standing up to push the mannequin towards her. "This is perfect."

"But that's my exam piece Lavi. It's not for me to wear, and it's not exactly completed."

"By completed you mean fitting it on the model, yes?"

"Yeah… "

"Then you be the model for this!"

"It's for the exam, Lavi, don't you get it?"

"Come on," Lavi begged. His mind was already working fast to generate a plausible excuse for her to wear it. "Your teacher has already seen the design right?"

"Yes,"

"So there's nothing wrong with you wearing it out," he reasoned. "In fact, the media will be the one to judge this piece, so you know if your teacher is judging you unfairly in the exam."

Well… she would get fair critique for it if she wore it…

"Just this once," he tried. "You only know your standard from your school's results. This is another chance Rei-chan."

"…What about all those?" Reiichi pointed to her closest and Lavi knew he got her.

"There's always next time for those," he waved it off. "Chop, chop, the man in the car is getting impatient~"

"Kanda's here?" Reiichi's eyes widened in surprise.

"Our chauffeur, of course," he laughed.

"Yeah I've been wondering about that," Reiichi questioned. "You do have a driver's license don't you?"

"I don't need one Rei-chan," he said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm a genius, remember?"

Sometimes the things her cousin said did not make sense. Nonetheless, she took the piece into the toilet to put on. She straightened up once in it, and peered at her own reflection in the mirror. This was a different girl staring back at her. It was quite amazing how clothes can change a person, she thought, fumbling with the back of the dress. This dress made her look more classy, more model-like. It was a good idea to ruffle the bottom so that it didn't look sluttish but artsy instead. Her only gripe was that she felt a little exposed at the front, but that was natural considering she never wore dresses like these much.

Failing to fasten the corset for the up teeth time, she stalked out of the bathroom and commanded Lavi to help her. He did so with ease, humming a little tune under his breath. Once done, he turned her around and beamed.

"I got this off Fou," he pushed a small box into her hands.

It was a makeup box. Reiichi fished out the eyeliner and blush, because those were the ones she knew how to put on.

"Foundation," Lavi reminded her, taking out the correct one and handing it to her before she disappeared into the bathroom again.

A few minutes later Reiichi merged with light makeup on and hair pinned into artistic bun. She went off to find a pair of earrings to match with the usual ring choker she wore. Lavi was proud, because his little cousin was all grown up and ready to astound the male population. The dress was perfect on her, and it made her look more feminine then he ever imagined.

"Shoes…ugh," she grumbled, rummaging through the boxes of heels. Eventually she pulled out a simple black pair, sighing as she saw the height of the heels.

Lavi took the liberty to gather her phone and wallet into a black clutch, and they were ready to go. He offered her his arm and she took it gratefully.

"Well then, ready to rock?"

"Isn't this some fancy ball?"

"I meant it metaphorically, dear," Sometimes Reiichi was such a joke killer. "Before we leave, I think you should prepare yourself for any screaming or reckless reactions when we step out of the door."

"...Lavi, what did you do?" Reiichi sighed. "Again."

"Err, the whole school knows I'm here so.." He laughed at the horrified expression on her face. "Relax! They won't do anything."

"You obviously weren't here the first time Kanda came," she sniffed. "Whatever, let's go. The chauffeur is not going to be happy."

The said chauffeur was in the car taking a nap. It was rare for him to sleep anywhere but his room, but he just finished a shoot today that stretched nearly seven hours continuous because the stupid Marc Jacobs representative kept rejecting Lavi's photos in favour of keeping them longer at work. It was so obvious, the way the lady stared at him like he was a piece of meat and that eventually she demanded Lavi to send every single "rejected" photo to her.

Of course Lavi agreed, only to flash her a rude gesture when her back was turned.

And now he had to attend this dumb charity ball just because he was the Kanda Yuu. Being a top model didn't mean that he could do anything to his advantage. He only earned the position quite recently, and in this ruthless industry, one wrong step and you're out. He had to play by certain rules until he was established like a legend or something. Parties meant socializing and Kanda hated socializing. Or crowding. Or people in general. The only thing good was probably the food and the alcohol.

Yeah, he needed some.

Reiichi and Lavi stepped into the carpark after surviving a mini mosh crowd after them. Mostly after Lavi, but she had a few cat calls from the audience, causing her to set her jaw in a firm line and walk forward coldly. She hated how degrading cat calls sounded and it was by no means flattering. On the up side, she could see looks of approval on her attire. Lavi tried to open the door, but found it locked. Both of them peered curiously into the tinted windows and spotted the model asleep in the driver's seat.

"Wow, that shoot must have worn him out more than I thought," Lavi commented. "Yuu~" He tapped the window, but no response.

Seeing Lavi's futile attempts, Reiichi did the smarter thing and called Kanda's cell. She watched as Kanda stirred, blearily pulling out his phone and squinting at the caller ID. He scowled, rejecting the call and went back to slumber. Reiichi frowned at his audacity, slamming a hand at his window. Kanda jolted, then noticed the duo standing outside and unlocked the doors.

"What is your problem woman?" He growled, rolling the window down.

"No, what is your problem," she seethed. "You blatantly rejected my call!"

"It was an unknown number," he defended. "How the fuck was I supposed to know that was you?"

"Children, children," Lavi clasped his hands together. "Let's be good okay? Yuu I don't think you should drive. You look kind of tired."

Lavi pulled Kanda out of the driver's seat and pushed him into the backseat. Kanda must have been tired enough to not argue.

"Come on Rei-chan, get in," he smiled, holding the back door open of her.

She slid into the back as Kanda moved in to make space for her. Wait, why was she sitting at the back with Kanda and not in the front passenger seat?

"This is Captain Lavi," Lavi turned on the ignition. "We'll be heading for the Noah manor. Estimated time, 40 minutes. Have a good flight."

"Lavi?" Reiichi suddenly remembered the fact that Lavi did not affirm that he had a driver's license. She panicked. "Lavi! Can you even drive?"

"Passenger Rei-chan, please fasten your seat belt. We'll be taking off in one second," Lavi replied cheerfully.

"Kanda, can Lavi drive?" She turned towards the model but he had his eyes closed already.

"LAVI-"

Lavi stepped on the pedal.

* * *

**Owari.**

**A short chapter, because it would be weird to break up the scenes of the charity ball. **

**Thank you for the reviews, readers :)**


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Econs D:

* * *

-**Imitation Black-**

Reiichi blinked.

She did not expect this.

What she expected was Lavi driving them to their deaths, but somehow she was seated comfortably, enjoying the smooth ride. When her cousin drove them out of the school campus, she was all ready to jump out of the vehicle if it came down to that, but there was no need. Lavi signaled and entered the highway without any problems, all while looking as smug as ever.

Could it be that her cousin actually knew how to drive?

_Well, obviously_, Reiichi thought, sulking a little at her corner. And to think she freaked out for nothing.

"That's how much you trust me, huh," Lavi pouted, glancing back.

"If you won't give me a straight answer, I am entitled to my doubts," she defended, still feeling cheated.

"Well then to answer your question, I actually don't have a license,"

There was a pause.

"You're joking, right?" Reiichi started to dread as Lavi didn't seem to laugh.

"Nope, perfectly serious,"

"Are you crazy?" she half screamed. "That's illegal! Stop the car, Lavi!"

Lavi waved her off. "Rei-chan," he said in that all knowing voice. "Does it seem like I don't have a license?"

"..I guess not," she admitted. Heck, he drove better than Kanda, and she was pretty sure Kanda had a license. Or does he?

"There you have it," he concluded, as if it was all logical.

"If you get arrested, I am not going to bail you out," she clucked her tongue, turning to look out the window.

Lavi chuckled, because he knew that she was lying. She looked so cute, sulking unhappily at the back.

"Did you think Yuu would willingly let me drive if I couldn't?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Reiichi surveyed the sleeping model. His car seemed to be one of the rare things he actually liked, so it wouldn't make sense that Kanda would just offer up his car if he knew Lavi was incompetent. "Good point,"

Speaking of the said model, Kanda seemed to be in dream land quicker than she expected. She always pegged him as one of those people who were picky about their sleeping location, or maybe Kanda was just more tired than he was letting on. His face was void of any expression, purely relaxed.

"..He sleeps so...soundlessly," Reiichi commented, watching the man lean rock still against the car door.

"You expected him to snore?" Lavi laughed.

"Well, people are usually quite the opposite when they're asleep, aren't they?" Reiichi stated, turning to look out of the window again.

There was a peaceful moment of silence. Contrary to popular belief, Lavi did know when to keep silent when necessary. He knew Kanda would not appreciate it if he turned on the stereo, and Reiichi wasn't much of a talker herself. But he was getting oh so bored.

"Rei-chan?"

"Hmm?"

He peered through the rearview mirror to look at her. "Can you answer this seriously?"

"Depends on whether it is a serious question,"

"What do you think of Yuu?"

Reiichi sighed. At least it wasn't the imaginary boyfriend list. "Again? I thought this was serious,"

"It is. He's sleeping, so he's not going to hear anything." He prodded. "It's safe. Come on, true feelings?"

Reiichi thought for a while before answering.

"He's a little better than what I expected, I suppose..."

Lavi made no comment, only waited for her to continue.

"I mean, I can see his talent and potential as a model... but that's as far as it goes. His attitude needs some work. I mean, it's not that hard to be polite to people isn't it?"

"Yuu won't be Yuu without that," he stated seriously. "Can't have the best of both worlds, except in me of course,"

"Of course," she agreed sarcastically.

"Would you ever date him then?"

"Give it up. Just give it up."

"Just your opinion Rei-chan. No strings attached."

"No," she replied. "I won't date someone I don't like enough,"

"Going by that, you'd date him if you liked him," he countered.

"Not really. He's a top model, Lavi. Being with someone of that status is just going to bring trouble," she explained matter of factly. "I don't think death by a crazy fangirl would be a nice way to die."

"You're too technical about these kind of things," he chided. "You're young! Live! Explore! Life is about taking chances!"

"What about you?" She stared back through the mirror. "Why haven't you found a girlfriend yet?"

"I've already got a special girl in my life, Rei-chan," he smiled sincerely, gazing at her directly. "I don't think I can squeeze in another."

Reiichi was quiet for a few moments. She knew Lavi loved her, probably too much for his own good. But she loved him too. "I also want you to be happy, Lavi." She leaned forward to squeeze his shoulder. "Do something for yourself."

"What I do for you, I do it for me," he replied without batting an eyelid.

"Is that why you're trying to set me up with Kanda?" she asked dryly.

"He's a good guy Rei-chan. I think I can trust him more than some random boy you find off the streets,"

"I think you also haven't taken into account that Kanda would never like me?"

"What makes you say that?"

"There are so many other girls out there. Prettier girls. Girls out of their minds who are actually _willing _to be with him," she paused for a second. "Actually does he even like girls? He seems to be equally rude to everyone,"

"Nah, Yuu doesn't hit girls," He grinned. "Are you questioning his manliness my dear cousin?"

"Seeing as he walks in heels better than I can-"

"Wait, what?" His eyes flickered off the road to look at her. "Repeat that again, because I think I misheard you."

Reiichi realized her mistake. That incident in The Order was never to be mentioned. It was an unspoken rule. Kanda was going to annihilate her.

"Nothing," she cut in sweetly. "I'm not questioning his masculinity. Let's move on to another topic shall we?"

"You said Yuu walks in heels better than you," Lavi pressed on, his mind already forming the unsaid conclusions. "Which means that he wore them recently, as in the past week or so." He started to laugh hysterically, no doubt already picturing the image.

"Lavi!" Reiichi frowned, trying to hush him. "Kanda's going to wake up, and he's going to kill me," she paused, staring at the redhead who was wiping a tear from the insane laughter. "And you."

"Actually… he's awake," he quipped.

Sure enough, Kanda's voice was proof enough. "Shut up you idiots." He still had his eyes closed.

Reiichi jumped slightly, totally caught unawares. "I thought you said he was sleeping!" Then she realized Kanda most probably had heard their entire conversation. "You lied to me!"

"No harm done, Rei-chan," Lavi tried to reason with her, or else he'd have to face her wrath once he stepped out of the car. "It's not like you said anything of much related to him."

"Actually, our entire conversation was on him, if you so conveniently forgot," she muttered.

"Stop talking like I'm not here," Kanda snapped, this time visually awake and glaring at the two occupants in his car.

"I didn't hear you complaining when you were_ supposedly_ asleep," Reiichi retorted sourly.

"Peace guys, peace," Lavi tried to quell the growing irritation from the back.

Therein started a long length of awkward silence. Kanda opted to close his eyes again; Reiichi just did not want to talk anymore. Sometimes the people closest to him were really just so stubborn. He knew their personalities were so alike, but yet so different. Both of them preferred to avoid communication, but they had their own strong individualistic opinion. Lavi tried to break the ice.

"Yuu snores, so you know when he's really sleeping." He randomly commented.

"I do not." Kanda muttered crossly.

"Yes you do."Lavi insisted. "You can't prove me wrong – it's not possible to hear yourself when you sleep."

"I don't, so shut your mouth usagi."

Reiichi kept silent, but Lavi could see the small quirk of amusement on her lips.

* * *

The charity ball. Lavi loved parties, because he got to meet more gorgeous females to flirt with. It also helped that it expanded his work circle and usually got offers for side projects. This one, organized by the Noah clan, was probably not as simple.

He knew agencies liked to hold these kind of parties to pretend that they were doing a good cause, but honestly he only saw it as a way to flaunt more of their wealth and status than anything else. He knew Reiichi would agree with him that the amount of money spent to hold one of these parties would have been sufficient if it was just donated to charity.

This one in particular, was a little dodgy. Usually these parties were planned weeks in advance due to its grand scale, but they only got the invite last week. It was common sense that everyone would attend it even at their inconvenience, because to ditch the party would be an insult to the head of the clan, the Millennium Earl. Although Innocence did have the largest share in the industry in Japan, but Noah's Ark as they call themselves, had larger role internationally, seeing that their models usually worked in various countries.

Of course, it would take some time before Kanda was able to secure a strong foothold into the international market successfully. For now, he was still building up his reputation as a top model in Japan. The other models of Innocence too, were mainly based in Japan, but they were trying to resolve that.

After many unsuccessful attempts of trying to initiate conversation in the car and failing – Kanda nearly choked him in an attempt to shut him up and Reiichi pointedly ignored him – he entered the gates of the Noah manor. He could already see familiar faces he saw at work in the distance.

Once up to the front porch, he deposited the keys with the valet and held the door out for Reiichi. She thanked him nonchalantly, slipping out of the car carefully in an attempt to not humiliate herself with those heels. She nearly stumbled when she stood up straight, but Lavi caught her and steadied her.

"You alright?" He asked, seeing that she looked a little pale.

"Yeah, just nervous," She took the arm he offered, and they headed to the entrance together.

Kanda was ahead of them, scowling darkly.

"Hurry up,"

"Why doesn't he go in himself?" Reiichi questioned Lavi.

"You see Yuu-chan, here," they had reached Kanda, and Lavi slung an arm over his shoulder. "is painfully shy. He needs his BFF to protect-"

Kanda shrugged off the arm roughly, stomping angrily away.

"He seems really pissed this time," Reiichi commented.

"He'll regret it," Lavi whistled.

The relatives watched him enter the venue and immediately he was swamped but various models or fashion representatives. They could clearly see the panic that suddenly filled his eyes and the uncomfortable atmosphere as the model tried to refuse and fend off people.

"Come on, let's go greet people," he pulled her in excitedly, ditching Kanda to his fanclub.

The entire ballroom was decorated to the nines with sparkling silver or gold, with a live orchestra at the front and the middle for dancing. There were stand up tables at the side and a huge buffet table, comprising of delicacies that Reiichi could not recognize immediately. The room was littered with beautiful models, and she felt so out of place.

She felt somewhat confident when she saw herself in the mirror before she left her dorm, but now it seemed like that beauty paled in comparison to the mass of beautiful people here. She noticed people staring at her dress, but she could not tell if those were looks of concealed scorn or praise.

They spotted Komui and Lenalee huddled at the corner, with Lenalee exasperatedly trying to tell him something to no avail.

"Nii-san! Stop trying to scare everyone away!"

"Bu-but Lenalee! That boy was trying to take your innocence!"

"How does initiating a conversation with me equate to taking my innocence hm?"

"Still, your nii-san doesn't approve! "

Lenalee spotted the duo making their way towards them and turned her attention to them, ignoring her brother. Smiling widely, she was a picture of elegance in her purple number and white heels. Her hair was tastefully done into two pigtails, showing off her slender neck that was drawn to attention to by a sparkly set of diamonds.

"Reiichi! You look absolutely stunning," Lenalee grinned. "I love your dress!"

"Thank you," the girl ducked her head slightly in embarrassment. "I would say you look beautiful, but you always are."

"I have to agree with Rei-chan on that," Lavi beamed, taking her hand and kissing it. "Good evening."

Lavi suddenly felt a death aura emitting behind Lenalee, and he squeaked.

"Laviii…." Komui's eyes were practically on fire.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" Lavi tried to pacify the sister complex, but only failed as it fuelled Komui's advancement on him.

"You don't think my precious Lenalee is pretty?" his words were dripping with acid.

"No! I mean- Komui!" Lavi whined. "You know that I know that if I did anything to her you will gut me and hang my carcass out to dry as a trophy."

Komui seemed to calm down a little. "Good," he pushed his glasses up. "Remember it."

Reiichi stifled a laugh at her cousin's expense. It was a change seeing Lavi being scared of someone else than the usual way round.

"Oh, I think I see Allen!" Lenalee quipped. "I'm, um, going to him."

She quickly took the chance to head over to the said person, leaving Komui behind. Koumi whined and lunged, but Lavi caught him back.

"Give her some space man," he tried to say, but Komui was dramatically leaking out rivers of tears.

"Komui-san," Reiichi cut in, unable to watch the sister complex go on. She did think that it was sweet that Komui cared so much for Lenalee, and she generally respected the COE, but there were limits. It was starting to freak her out. "Don't you have people to talk to? Clients to meet…?"

Komui stopped, suddenly the gears in his brain moving. "Yes, you're right, Reiichi. I do have something to settle," he looked around. "Enjoy your evening, I'll see you around."

Lavi brought her around, meeting various people in his –now hers – line of work. She got acquainted with various professional photographers and models, mostly from Innocence itself or from the other agencies. Some of them were genuinely nice, such as the German model Miranda (she seemed to lack in the self esteem department more than her) and American model Cloud Nyne, Reever and Bak, Innocence photographers, but others subtly subbed her as she had little reputation thus far.

They eventually came upon Allen eating at a corner.

"Moyashi," Lavi grinned, sliding up next to him. "Where's Lenalee-chan?"

"She went off to find Ba-Kanda," Allen replied between chomps. "Hey Reiichi."

"Hey," she smiled, finally finding someone she could talk to comfortably. It was a scary but interesting experience meeting all those new faces of which she mostly likely would not remember their names. "Where's Cross-san?"

Allen made a face. "He's not here."

The trio had an affinity of understanding. The brothel, of course.

"Lavi, I think I want to check out the food," Reiichi stared at Allen's fast diminishing plate of food. He had already gone through a whole slice of cake and it was making her hungry.

"Go ahead," he smiled. "I'll go find Yuu. Allen-chan, you'll be here right?"

"Yup,"

"We'll meet back here,"

Reiichi nodded, walking off to the buffet table. Immediately she headed for the dessert section. She knew it wasn't good for her stomach, but there were so many morsels to choose! Taking a set of cutlery, she stood in indecision. Should she take the macaroons, or the tiramisu? The cheesecake looked mouthwatering too…

"Try the chocolate cake," a voice next to her startled her out of her thoughts. "Skin likes it, so it's probably good."

Reiichi looked up to see a boy around her age standing on her right with a plate and fork in hand. He was wearing a punk outfit that clashed so horribly with the classy formal theme of the ball, but he did not seem to care. He wore a tight black tank underneath a fur coat that hung loosely off his shoulders, and his pants were decorated with belts. He was dark skinned and his hair was waxed into a style that of a rocker. He was familiar, probably because he was a model she'd seen somewhere in one of those magazines.

"The name's Debitto," he grinned, stabbing the said recommended dessert on the table.

Reiichi's eyes widened finally tagging his name to his face. Of course! He was the trend setter of the punk goth scene, not to mention the lead singer of _Jasdevi,_ a duo with his apparent twin whose songs she had listened to before. More importantly, he was a member of the Noah clan.

"I'm-"

"Kuroshi Reiichi, yeah I know," he chomped off half of the cake. "Sheryl's gonna freak if he sees you. He's been ranting about you since that picture on _Mugen_-" he caught himself from saying anything more, picking up another piece of the cake on his now empty fork and dumping it on her plate.

"So do ya like rock music?" Debitto flippantly asked, turning back to the dessert table.

Reiichi ate the cake, eyes lighting up as the sweetness filled her mouth. "I did like your number, the _Blue Bullet_."

Debitto paused suddenly, and then his face split into a huge grin. "A fan? Could it be?"

"Quite," she admitted, smiling as she saw the pure jubilation on his face.

"I like ya," he stated seriously, "No one here appreciates_ my_ kind of music,"

"Where's Jasdero-san?" Reiichi asked curiously. It was odd because he usually modeled with his twin, so seeing Debitto alone was a little weird.

"He's under house arrest from the Earl," Debitto was off choosing another dessert to pick. "He-" he stopped himself again, turning to her. "You'd be a good addition to the family, sista. At least, I approve."

Addition to the family? What was that supposed to mean? Reiichi liked Debitto, but she had a bad feeling about his words. He was a little jumpy on his words, as though he was forbidden to say several things.

"Aw shucks," Debitto's curse brought her out of her thoughts.

She followed his line of sight to see a man entering the doors.

"That's Sheryl," Debitto whispered. "The thing is, I'm not supposed to be here. Keep a secret can ya, sista? I'll see you around,"

Reiichi was going to reply, but he had disappeared as suddenly as he came. She looked to the doorway to see the very same man walking towards her. He reached her easily, smoothing down the front of his suit.

"I am Sheryl Kamelot, managing director of Noah's Ark," the squinty eyed man kissed her hand in chaste greeting. "I would like to congratulate you on your success of Lavi Bookman's on-going project," he started. "It certainly deems a lot of praise."

"Thank you," she responded politely, slightly embarrassed at the direct compliment.

"How have you found your evening so far?" He started off conversationally.

"It's great," she responded. Really, what else could she say to the man in charge? "I love your food," she added when Sheryl didn't seem to believe her.

"Ah yes, we had professional chefs design the menu," he smiled lightly. "Have you tried the champagne? Top quality, I assure you."

He took off two glasses from one of the waiters walking by and handed one to her. Reiichi raised an eyebrow inwardly, but took a sip of the drink. It was bubbly and warmed her stomach. It tasted good, but she knew she would have to watch it because she was drinking on an empty stomach.

"I have something to propose," Sherly dived straightforwardly into topic. "We, the Noah clan, recognize your talent and would like you to do a stint with us. I understand that you are under contract with Innocence, but it would just be a small, off side project."

Reiichi listened silently, evaluating his words. What he meant that he was headhunting her? It was a surprise, because the Noah clan was notoriously famous in the fashion industry. They were second to Innocence in Japan, but possibly bigger in the international market. All family members were in the modeling business, either directly or behind the scenes. Why would they be interested in her, especially since she was only one week into Lavi's project? It was a good chance to break off those coattail riding rumors if she was successful, but this felt like betrayal to Lavi.

Sheryl saw her hesitation and glanced to the masses of people around him. He made a hand motion to someone and tall man made his way over. He was dressed in an impeccable suit that complemented his image. Hair neatly gelled back; he was a picture of aristocracy. His facial features were well defined that of a European, and Reiichi recognized him. This was Tyki Mikk, an international model of the Noah clan.

"Tyki, come and meet Kuroshi Reiichi," Sheryl smiled elusively, tugging the Portuguese model closer. "The one who has been designing Kanda Yuu's clothes."

"Good evening," He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, all while maintaining eye contact with her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise Mikk-san," Reiichi returned coolly, ensuring that her facial expression did not give anything away.

She knew Tyki Mikk was an experienced ladies' charmer. His greeting no doubt proved it. Even his voice seemed to possess some kind of quality and accent that made it silky smooth and pleasant to the ears. It really did not help when his liquid golden eyes were as dangerous as it was captivating. It seemed as though he was looking right at her soul, which disturbed her a little.

"I do hope you will consider our proposal," he handed her a card. "Well then, I have some matters to attend to – Tyki, do show the lady a good time hmm?" Sheryl gave Tyki a look.

Tyki sighed tiresomely inwardly, but managed to keep his composure. "Of course,"

They watched Sheryl scuttle away, disappearing into the crowd.

"Does he always do this?" Reiichi stated more to herself, but Tyki caught the question.

"Do what?"

"Leaving you to charm ladies into joining your agency," she replied blandly.

Tyki stared at her for a moment before chuckling. "I do have a 100% success rate after all," He smirked at her.

She smiled amusedly, finishing up the cake. Egoistic. But that wasn't something to be surprised at.

* * *

**Owari.**

It's already chapter nine! And it only has been two weeks since Reiichi and Kanda met. She's taking such a long time to warm up to him. This scene was planned to be chapter 4 initially, but look how much I've dragged the story. Now I wonder how the entire 7 weeks of them together is going to be…

I know you guys were expecting Lavi to be a horrible driver, but really, would Kanda let his car suffer in Lavi's hands?

Kanda will also not get his alcohol fix this time, sadly. ):

About Debitto: I originally wanted him to be part of the sort-of-love-triangle (because Tyki is so difficult to write!) but Debitto became more and more out of character as I wrote him. I can't pin down Jasdero's character properly either. I only know that both the twins are pretty insane.

I also wanted to use Link as a model, but I remembered he was a vice principal. Oh well. I love Link. He's a teenager yet he's comes off totally mature and adult in the manga. I couldn't believe it when I found out he was 19 in manga-verse. Same age as Kanda and Lavi, imagine!


	10. Chapter 10

**-Imitation Black-**

"My lady-"

"Erm, could you not call me that? It sounds a little… strange,"

"Alright then _Reiichi_," Tyki purposefully pronounced her first name with a Portuguese accent. "Would you like to dance?" He bowed slightly, holding out a hand.

Caught off guard, she knew it would be rude to decline, but she wasn't exactly confident in her dancing abilities even if Lavi gave her a crash course yesterday.

"I'm sorry, I'm not exactly experienced," she pointed to her shoes. "I might stab you with these."

"Nonsense," Tyki took the empty plate and drink off her hands and dumped it on some waiter walking past. "I promise you won't even _touch_ me."

He held out his hand again. "People are staring _Reiichi_…"

It was true. Seeing Tyki Mikk ask a girl twice to dance was blasphemy. For the girl to refuse – even more so offending. Reiichi could see the envious glares of various girls staring at her. Yes, he was devastatingly handsome, but no, she did not think it was a very good idea to embarrass herself in front of the said man. She could already picture him ditching her on the dance floor as she stepped on his foot for the nth time.

Seeing her hesitation, Tyki grabbed her hand and pulled her to the centre of the dance floor. It was the first time his seduction efforts failed – failed! - him but it was not going to make any difference. If he had to show her a good time, then he would. He smiled charmingly, taking her hand into his and placing the other on his shoulder. He let his other hand linger on her back, and they were ready.

As if on cue, a new song started and he started to glide them into the music. Reiichi was staring down hard at her feet, trying to remember what Lavi had taught her.

"_Step to the left…then left again.. now ri- owwww…." Lavi let go of her, rubbing his abused foot against his leg._

"_I'm sorry! Can you still walk? Do you want to sit?" It has been quite a while since Lavi decided to teach her how to formal dance, and it was not working out._

"_I'm fine, I'm fine," he took hold of her again. "Let's try that again. You're getting a hang of it,"_

"_I still don't see a need for this," she sighed tiresomely. "I'll just refuse any offers – if I even have any."_

"_It's a necessary skill," Lavi insisted. "I think you're doing fine,"_

_They started off again with Reiichi counting the steps under her breath and making absolutely sure that she was in rhythm. _

"_That's because this is the…. number something time after 2 hours?"_

"_Take it easy," he laughed. "At least you got it eventually,"_

_The duo continued for a few more minutes without any major mishaps._

"_I don't think I can do the same if I'm wearing those heels,"_

"_You'll get used to it," he encouraged, then cleared his throat. "Now remember Rei-chan," he started off seriously._

"_When a guy places this hand on your back, you can tell what kind of person he is. If he places his hand on your shoulder blade -," Lavi demonstrated, "This is the proper way to support a girl by the way – it means that his intentions are entirely honorable."_

"_If it is on your lower portion of your back, I suggest you kick him whenever you please," He grinned devilishly, twirling her around just for the fun of it. "He wants something more from you, so you're welcomed to retaliate,"_

"_This, however," he moved his hand up so it was in the middle. "Is a little ambiguous. It may be because it's just a more comfortable position, or he is hinting at something else. Well, you are still welcomed to kick him." _

"_If all else fails," he added finally. "Just call me,"_

She could feel Tyki's warm hand pressing on the middle portion of her back. She thought that Lavi probably read too much into body language – I mean, would you purposely decide where to put your hands? – but suddenly she could understand what he was talking about. She wasn't even looking at Tyki in favour of looking at where she was stepping, but she couldn't help but feel slightly apprehensive at his intentions.

"_Reiichi_," Tyki's deep baritone, even deeper than Kanda's, shook her out of her thoughts. "It's rude to ignore your dancing partner."

"Right," she glanced up, but winced when she knew she took a wrong step.

Strangely enough, her foot connected with the floor and not his shoes. Tyki had maneuvered in time to seem as though that step was entirely natural as he led their dance across the floor. He was smirking at her.

"I told you you won't even touch me," he said arrogantly, smug with self satisfaction.

"I should have known," she was a little impressed with his dancing abilities.

Soon enough he was bringing out various topics for them to chat about. Even with Reiichi's slight social awkwardness, she found herself talking with the model.

"About the project Sheryl-san mentioned earlier," she started. "What does he want?"

"Hmm? I'm not entirely sure of the details," he admitted. "But we can work something out to your advantage."

"It isn't too pretentious for me to say that the Noah clan is headhunting me then?"

"I prefer the words "recruit" and "nurture" ,"

Reiichi scoffed in jest at his words.

"A true gentleman never lies," he added. "We won't force you into anything,"

"I still don't understand _why_," Reiichi looked at him suspiciously. "I've only done two shoots with Kanda so far-"

"Does it really matter?" he cut in. "You know the benefits of joining us..." he murmured, voice dropping low.

Suddenly she felt something slip underneath her corset bindings. It was stroking her spine lightly. She froze, realizing that it was his fingers. Heat immediately crawled up to her face even though she tried to ignore it.

"Mikk-san-"

"It's Tyki," he insisted.

"Tyki-san," she tried again. "Would you… stop that?"

"Stop what?" he looked back innocently.

Another finger slipped in, and she nearly jumped if not for the fact that they were moving.

"Y-your hand,"

"Hmm?" He feigned ignorance, pulling her a bit closer.

Reiichi started to panic, because this would be the second time she was this close to a male, not counting Lavi. Teenage hormones were starting to surface – her heart was beating faster as she became more aware of how painfully close they were and the smell of his cologne and cigarettes. He was undeniably attractive, but she would not stand for being just another girl he was seducing.

She raised her foot, full intending to land it on his feet…

* * *

Lavi approached Lenalee when he saw her, but she didn't seem to notice him. It was only when he tapped her on the shoulder did she acknowledge him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

The female model pointed to a mass of people some distance away from her. Lavi spotted Kanda in the middle of it all, trying to look at Lenalee to get her attention.

"He's looking for you,"

"I know," she giggled. "But I'm not risking my life for him,"

Sure enough, as Kanda refused yet another girl to dance with him – did they all not get the fucking hint – another person joined the circle and added on to the never ending queue of people trying to get his attention. He planned to find a dark corner and wait the evening away, but thanks to his best friend who ditched him (actually it's Kanda's fault for losing his temper), he was stuck. He hadn't even gotten the chance to take a glass of wine off the waiters walking by, because people were crowding. He hated crowding.

"Kanda-sama," someone was saying. "I'm a representative from-"

"I'm doing freelance photography, wou-"

"Kanda-sama-"

The high pitch screwed his ears. Blonde hair, too much make up, what was her name again? Oh right, Matsumoto's daughter.

"Kanda-sama," she tried again, her face plastered into a permanent smile.

"No," he bluntly replied.

"Yuu-chan~~" It was annoying, but it was sure as hell better than anything else. He inwardly let out a sigh of relief as he saw the red head bounding towards him. "Sorry girls," he grinned charmingly and winked at one of them. "I have to borrow him for a while."

There was a murmur of unsatisfied groans as Lavi pulled Kanda away.

"Where the fuck were you?"

"Nuh-uh, Yuu," Lavi wagged a finger at him. "Is that how you address your savior?"

"Whatever," Kanda discreetly spied Matsumoto trailing after them. "Shit, she's following me,"

Lavi laughed, patting his back. "Not the first time, Yuu." He ensured that both of them kept walking as though they had a specific destination in mind, taking a longer route to get back to Allen in order to try and lose the girl.

Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, because a flash of red hair on the dance floor couldn't be Reiichi right?

"Oi," Kanda nudged him. "Move, she's catching up."

Lavi grabbed Kanda's arm, pulling him closer to whisper. "Yuu, tell me I'm dreaming, because Rei-chan's dancing with Mikk."

"What?" Kanda followed Lavi's trail of sight. "You're dreaming,"

"Good, good," Lavi laughed weakly, then stopped. "Yuu, this is not the time to joke!"

Lavi was gripping his arm tighter. "What if he does something to her?" he started to ramble frantically. "What if he takes her hostage? What if-"

"Tch," Kanda rolled his eyes. "If you're so concerned, then go break up their dance,"

"I want to! But I can't! He's not doing anything yet!"

"Like that has ever stopped you from doing something stupid,"

"Yuu~" he whined. "Why are you being so heartless? I thought you hated Mikk,"

"Duh," he agreed. "And I hate the entire fucking Noah,"

They watched the dancing pair move along. The dancing pair seemed innocent enough, engaged in decent conversation. Lavi spied Tyki's hand slipping lower and lower and he knew it was trouble. When he saw that his hand entered her corset bindings, that was the last straw.

"He is so dead," Lavi hissed, eyes flashing dangerously. "Yuu, go,"

Before Kanda even had a chance to realize what Lavi was talking about, he felt himself being pushed roughly into the direction of Tyki and Reiichi. His eyes widened in realization and he caught himself before he slammed into them. There was no way to escape this. Once he was on the dance floor, it was even more embarrassing to walk off it after stepping in.

Bastard Lavi. He was so going to pay for this.

* * *

Tyki's eyes flickered to the right to another person. Scowling with a disgruntled expression, Kanda was glaring unhappily at everything in general. Tyki raised an eyebrow at him.

"Song's over," Kanda snapped.

"Think about it _Reiichi_," Tyki brought her hands up to his lips one last time before departing. He flashed a smirk to Kanda who rivaled it with his trademark glare.

"Hand," he grabbed hers before she could even reply.

Another song started, and Kanda led them as Reiichi stood frozen in surprise. Did Kanda just save her? It couldn't be, because that would be entirely out of character for him to do so. But then, it still did not answer the question of why he was dancing –with her no less- because she knew he hated socializing which meant dancing. She dared to glance at him discreetly.

Kanda looked extremely pissed off.

"Sorry," she quickly muttered as she stepped on his foot. He wasn't as good as Tyki at dancing, but she was sure he was better than her at remembering the steps.

"Hn,"

Awkward silence began again, and Reiichi bit her lip. It was hard enough to follow the rhythm, and Kanda was not making it any easier by maintaining his angriness at something she didn't understand. Why was he so difficult to talk to? Even Tyki was easier to handle than him. She was strangely aware of his hand that was on her shoulder blades. It felt warm against her cold skin. She could feel the strength of his body holding her up as he moved with practiced ease.

"What did that Mikk want?" he suddenly demanded, looking at her.

"...Nothing," it was not exactly "nothing", but she couldn't just say, "Oh, the Noah clan wants me to join them."

"Keep away from him if you know what's good for you," Kanda stated.

"Why?" She knew Tyki was a little troublesome, but Kanda's tone put her on the defensive.

"All of them – fucking Noah. Just keep away,"

"What for?" Debitto was nice enough to her, Sheryl was creepy but he was honest, and Tyki was courteous towards her before he tried to touch her. It sounded more like a personal grudge that Kanda was holding. "They aren't bad people-"

"So you like random people slipping their hand up your dress?"

She pursed her lips. Of course he was going to bring that up. "_No_, but not all the Noah-"

"Look, I'm just telling you to keep out of trouble," he snapped. "You think I _want_ to be here? If usagi hadn't forced me-"

Lavi again. Of course Kanda would never help her out of his own free will.

"What? You're saying I can't defend myself?" she bristled.

Kanda lost his patience. He was being _nice _enough to warn her about Mikk and yet the girl was not listening to him. Was she smitten with Mikk or something? He shuddered. And to think he thought she was (relatively) better than this fangirls. "Woman, what the fuck is _your_ problem?"

"It's not _my_ problem, Mister," Reiichi spoke with barely concealed irritation. "I'm just going to get more annoyed with you, so I'll leave. If Lavi wants me then tell him to call me."

The music was not finished, but he released her and she strode off without a word.

"Good riddance," Kanda muttered, as he walked off in the opposite direction, not bothering to look back.

* * *

"Mikk," Lavi was leaning casually against the wall, but his eyes told a different story.

"Bookman," Tyki acknowledged.

They were outside the ballroom away from the event, in one of the corridors in the manor. Tyki took out a cigarette and lit it easily, sticking it in his mouth as he savored the nicotine. Lavi did not protest although he most certainly hated the smell.

"What do you want with her?" Lavi's voice was hard, very unlike his usual demeanor.

"Her?" Tyki took a long drag, blowing out the smoke. He noticed Lavi's expression getting colder and colder. "Oh, _Reiichi_, was it?"

"Don't play games with me," Lavi spat, walking closer to him.

"Too bad. We've set the rules and the board," Tyki smirked, leaning against the wall behind him. "And I play for keeps, Bookman,"

Lavi grabbed the front of Tyki's shirt, pulling him dangerously close.

"I know you want me and Yuu, but leave her out of this," he glared, making sure he got his point across.

"You see," Tyki replied unfazed. He pried Lavi's fists off his clothes, straightening the creases. Damn, he liked this shirt. "When the Earl wants her, he wants her,"

Lavi so badly wanted to hurt him and the entire Noah clan in general. Could they not see that they were not interested? But if Tyki emerged with a punch print, the media was going to have a wild frenzy which would be troublesome to play down.

"And you just follow orders?"

"Of course," That infuriating smirk did not leave his face as he took another drag. "It doesn't hurt to have a little_ fun _along the way,"

* * *

Reiichi was wandering around the manor. She was already a good distance away from the ballroom, and the hallways were getting darker, signaling her deviation from where the crowd was. She didn't really have an aim in mind, just that she had to get away from Kanda before she lost her cool.

Granted, it really wasn't his fault and that she was still in his debt for saving her, but it didn't mean that he could push her around. He could have been _just a little _nicer couldn't he? Maybe she was just overreacting. Well, better to be away from the cause of irritation for safety.

She glanced around. She was sure she had passed the same painting a few times. Was she lost? Suddenly the lights switched off, plunging the entire corridor into darkness. She was starting to feel a little creeped out. Quickening her pace, she turned a corner.

A hand covered her mouth, pulling her backwards. All she registered was the smell of chlorofoam filing her nose and she blacked out.

* * *

Kanda was sitting outside. He had found a deserted garden (just how big was this manor?) and decided to wait it out there. People had already seen him in the ballroom so he figured it was fine since there was already evidence that he attended the stupid ball.

He had walked probably a thousand rounds around the small pebble path. It had already been two hours since he found this place and he wanted to go home. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he fully intended to notify Lavi that he was leaving.

20 missed calls. He scrolled down the list. It was all from Lavi.

His cell vibrated in his hand, the caller ID told him that it was Lavi again.

"_Yuu!_" came his voice immediately. "_Why haven't you been picking up? Is Rei-chan with you?_"

"No," he snapped, still clearly remembering their little spat earlier. "Why should she be?"

Lavi paused. _"..Did you guys have an argument again?"_

Kanda's silence was affirmation.

"_Yuu,"_

"What?"

"_I can't find her_," he sounded scared.

"Call her idiot,"

"_I've tried_," he started to ramble. "_I've asked everyone where she is and the last time anyone saw her was when she was dancing with you_,"

"…"

"_It's been 2 hours since I've last saw her, and I can't find her anywhere_," Lavi was on the verge of panic.

"Usagi, calm down," Kanda sighed. "Have you checked the restroom? Asked the Noah?"

"_The restrooms are empty. Mikk hasn't seen her either, and I know he's not lying," _

Kanda started to feel a sense of dread. Was it guilt? It was definitely not his fault that the idiot girl got lost or something.

"_Yuu? What if she-"_

"You don't know yet. I'll call you back when I find her," he shut his phone, grunting.

* * *

**Owari.**

I had an incredibly hard time writing Tyki. Hope he was well, Tyki-ish enough. D:

Who do you think kidnapped Reiichi? _Dun dun dun._

For people who are wondering about the sort of love triangle:

Rest assured that this fic is purely KandaOC. Reiichi will **not **fall in love with another character. I already have a hard time trying to make her like Kanda enough ;_; The Noah are definitely going to stir up trouble though.

The next chapter will take a while.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: DO I BELIEVE IT BUT MY EXAMS ARE OVER? But I have another exam in six weeks. Way to spoil my life.

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

Matsumoto Junki stood wide eyed, jaw slack and hands numb. She had to be dreaming. This was definitely a nightmare; because there was absolutely no way that it was Kanda Yuu on the dance floor. In all the past years she had seen him at events, parties, balls, Kanda had never danced. _Never._ He declined everyone's offer, so it wasn't that he was said no to her specifically.

She watched when Lavi pushed Kanda to the middle, but never in her mind did she think that he _wouldn't_ walk off it. When Kanda glared Tyki away, she stopped in her tracks. When Kanda grabbed the girl's hand, she stopped breathing. And when Kanda pulled her close, her heart stopped.

It was just impossible.

She scanned the girl he was dancing with. That girl didn't look exceptionally spectacular, only her dress was pretty, she grudgingly admitted. But there was nothing special about her. Why was she even dancing with Tyki in the first place? What made her capture the attention of the gorgeous international model?

She looked familiar though, perhaps, too familiar.

Red hair, green eyes that looked like Lavi's.

Kuroshi Reiichi.

Matsumoto's fists clenched tightly. What was she doing in this ball? This wasn't Reiichi's scene.

It was hers.

Reiichi was never meant to be here. She was just lucky that she was related to Lavi Bookman. Lucky to be selected as Kanda Yuu's designer. Lucky to be under contract with Innocence. Too lucky with her life. Her hands were trembling with rage as she left the scene, not able to stomach watching Kanda with her.

She wandered to the restrooms, scrutinizing herself in the mirror. She had the figure, she had the looks. She was rich. She had suitors after her. So why was it that Kanda choose Reiichi over her? She didn't understand. She couldn't.

Matsumoto left the restroom, wandering along the deserted corridor deeper into the mansion. This place was oddly silent for a home of the members of the Noah clan. The more she walked the more convinced the entire place was empty.

"How does Lavi even like him?" a voice suddenly came from behind her around the corner she turned not too long ago. "Why is he even Lavi's best friend? How can he stand the goddamn irritating attitude of the pri-," A deep breath. "He shouldn't have cared in the first place. I don't even get why he _bothered-"_

Pursing her lips, Matsumoto speed dialed her bodyguard whom she specifically ordered to make himself unseen the moment she stepped into the event.

"Akira, where are you?" she demanded.

"Along the corridor of where you are, Oujou-sama," he replied.

"I want you to get the girl who's behind me,"

"…Oujou-sama?"

"Don't make me repeat myself Akira," she snapped. "Knock her out or something, I don't care. Just do it."

"Oujou-sama, your father will not be pleas-"

"I don't care what Daddy thinks," she grounded out, frustrated. "Do it. That's an order."

"As you command," he said, but there was a note of disappointment in his tone.

Damn you Akira, she seethed, snapping the phone shut. This was critical. This was crucial. It had to be done.

* * *

Cold. It was cold.

Reiichi blinked.

Suddenly water splashed at her, and she spluttered. She tried to wipe her face, but it seemed as though her hands were tied to her back. It also seemed as though her legs were tied. She still felt drowsy, and the previous events were slowly coming back to her.

The smell of chlorofoam.

Reiichi was suddenly aware of another person in the same room as her. High heels, white dress, blonde curls. Lips pulled into an ugly sneer. Matsumoto.

"Mmmrrpph," Reiichi tried to say something, but she was gagged with a piece of cloth tied around her mouth.

She struggled, but the ropes cut deeper into her skin as she moved and it was futile. Was this some sort of sick joke? Did Matsumoto actually _kidnap_ her? It was terribly cliché, she thought, musing at how the scene reflected the many movie thrillers she had watched before. But that was not the time to think about such things, because Matsumoto was apparently insane enough to do it.

The girl merely smiled wider, walking closer.

"I want you to disappear," she stated finally. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The choice is entirely yours."

Reiichi glared at her.

"Quit Lavi-sama's project. Drop out of the Black Academy. Never talk to Kanda-sama again,"

So this was what it was all about? That she was _jealous_?

"Do you consent?" the blonde pulled the gag roughly off her mouth, awaiting her answer.

"Lavi is _my _cousin and I _will_ be in this business," Reiichi immediately snarled. "I don't care what you want with Kanda but you can have him. Untie me you asshole."

The girl in front of her merely chuckled. "That was hardly an agreement, _Reiichi_," she smiled mockingly. "I'm guessing you want the hard way then."

"Someone's going to find you Mastumoto," Reiichi spat. "And I'll charge you for- mmmrphhhhh!"

Matsumoto knotted the gag harder this time, and it was hurting her jaw.

"You really think anyone is going to help you?" She raised an eyebrow. "This place is deserted. No one will hear you, no one will bother to open an occupied restroom,"

Matsumoto walked over to the sink, bending down to open the cabinet. She smirked as she took out a bottle, putting it on the table. She unscrewed the cap, shooting Reiichi another triumphant look.

"Like I said, the choice is entirely yours," she repeated.

* * *

Kanda walked along the back of the manor, glancing at the building. Most probably the girl had wandered off in some god forsaken area of the place, assuming that she was even in the area. His eyes flickered to the second level window when he saw a vague movement before it disappeared as quickly as it came. There were probably other Noahs in the manor, seeing that only Sheryl and Tyki were present, so it couldn't have been classified as suspicious.

He managed to find a glass sliding door leading to the inside of the building, and it was mysteriously open. No reason for them to leave it open at night right? Unless someone else was here too. He stepped in, glancing at the flight of stairs leading up to the personal dorms of the Noah. He figured that if he was caught trespassing, "lost" being an excuse was certainly reasonable.

Climbing the stairs as silently as he could, Kanda couldn't help but notice how entirely creepy the place was. There was no sound, literally. All he could hear was his steps on the carpeted marble floor. He wandered through the second level - past a lighted room but it Kanda wasn't about to barge into it – and found nothing.

He decided to call her. Leaning against the wall in the shadows, he dialed her number.

It rang for the customary few minutes._ Hi this is Reiichi, please leave a message after the beep. *beep*_

Lavi did say she was uncontactable. But how was he supposed to find her if he had no fucking clue?

He called again.

_Ring ring._

_Ring ring._

_Ring ring._

_Ring ring._

_Hi this is Reiichi, please leave a message after the beep. *beep*_

Kanda swore, putting his cell back into his pocket. Of course she wouldn't just suddenly answer the phone. But something nagged at him to try again. He ignored the feeling, walking on.

A few minutes later he found himself at the staircase again. He stared up at the higher levels, but the second floor hallway kept calling out to him. It was dreadfully quiet, but suddenly Kanda heard a _tap_ from below. There was someone lurking downstairs. Before he could investigate, a whistling sound came from above. A harmless tune was floating in the air, and the sound of someone descending the stairs from the upper level could be heard.

"_And then the boy fell into a deep sleep.__  
__Among the grey ashes in the flames shining…"_

A young girl's voice sung.

"_First one,_

_then two…"_

Kanda went back into the second level hallway, turning into the first corner he saw that was plunged in darkness. The girl's voice became clearer and she neared. He decided to wait for her to pass before sneaking out again. He breathed in silence, and the nagging feeling pulled harder than ever at his chest.

"Fine, I'll fucking try again," he muttered to himself, irritated.

_Ring ring._

_Ring ring._

_Rin-_

There was a sound of gushing water, and then it stopped abruptly.

_You even have Kanda-sama calling for you._

It was an unmistakable high pitched voice.

_I wonder if he'll even look at you when I'm through with you.._

"...Rei?" Kanda felt a sinking feeling in this stomach.

There was a distinct sound of fabric ripping.

_Too bad Reiichi. That dress just wasn't meant for you._

Water. Water. Where was there water? The pond? The kitchen? The rest room?

_Do you yield? We can continue all night long…_

A resounding slap vibrated through the speaker.

_I'm not asking this time Reiichi. Keep away from Kanda-sama. You're not meant to be in this industry._

Kanda nearly dropped the phone. Matsumoto was doing something to Reiichi because of him? This was ridiculous.

_What is it, Akira? A..little girl? This way?_

"_No matter how many times the ever-passing time return the prayers back down to earth…"_

Shit. He had forgotten about the little girl. The model quickly cut the connection, silencing the area. He peeped out cautiously and saw Rhode Kamelot singing and skipping merrily down the hallway. His eyes followed her until she came to a corner stopping abruptly.

"Are you lost, lady?" Rhode tilted her head, smiling sweetly.

There was someone else in front.

"Ah, yes," a voice replied. That high pitched voice. Matsumoto. "This restroom seems to be in use, I'm wondering if there is another I could use..?"

"Just right down the corner," the little girl pointed in the other direction.

Matsumoto scurried off past his vision into the direction Rhode pointed.

Kanda saw Rhode peek curiously forward, humming to herself. She stared at it for a while before shrugging, and continued in the same way Matsumoto went. A few seconds of silence deemed safe enough for Kanda, so he hurried to the area Rhode stopped. He was in front of a door that looked uniformed to the rest of the other rooms and the light spilled from beneath the door, indicating that it was on. He knocked a few times, but received no response.

Reiichi was here, he was sure of it.

He tried to turn the knob, and to his surprise it opened easily. The first thing that greeted his eyes shocked him numb.

Reiichi was sitting on the toilet seat, but her condition was far from healthy. She was covered in a blue substance from head to toe, hair dripping with it. She was leaning in an awkward position with her arms behind her back, most probably tied. Her legs were bound together as well, a gag covered her mouth. Her dress was ripped in half, also spoiled by the blue liquid.

His eyes flickered to the uncapped bottles in the sink. Bleach.

Stepping in cautiously, he realized the floor was wet as well.

_Just what happened here…?_

Kanda moved to remove the gag first, kneeling down to reach her level. Reiichi coughed immediately, flexing her jaw. She cracked open an eye.

"…Kanda?"

"What did she do to you?"

Reiichi didn't reply, her head was already lolling off to one side.

"Rei," he snapped, moving on to untie her arms. "Oi, stay with me,"

He heard no answer, and once he managed to get the god damn rope loose, Reiichi slumped forwards, but he managed to catch her in time before she fell off. Shit, now his entire suit was covered with bleach. Reiichi was breathing shallowly, and he lifted her head from his shoulder. She was wet – most probably Matsumoto played with the showered head. He couldn't help but notice her forehead was burning hot. A fever.

He froze when he noticed a red smudge on his wrist, eyes trailing to the source. Her neck. It was bleeding slowly, a trickle from her jugular. As he inspected closer, he could make out a few bruises. The girl moaned softly when his fingers brushed over some.

She needed to get out of here.

Pulling out his phone, he speed dialed Lavi.

"YUU! HAVE YOU-"

Kanda cut in urgently. "Second floor, rest room at the end."

He could hear Lavi running. "Yuu, is… she alright? You sound…" Lavi paused for a quick breath. "..off."

He couldn't answer. "Just…get here. "

Lavi only took a minute, but it was agonizingly long. Kanda was forced to take in their surroundings. Shower head on the floor, wet. Reiichi's purse ripped open, wallet thrown at a corner, photographs spilling out on the wet floor. Her handphone was right at her feet, and he saw that the screen was cracked.

"Rei-chan,"

Lavi walked stiffly to them, facial expression blank.

"Untie her legs," Kanda ordered. He couldn't move because Reiichi was leaning her entire weight on him.

Lavi did so wordlessly. Once done, he cupped Reiichi's face, wiping away the bleach, examining her state. He stayed silent, deadly serious as he coolly looked over her condition, assessing the situation. No doubt he had noticed the blood and marks.

"What's going on here?" a voice approached closer.

Lavi's eyes hardened, and Kanda could practically see _hate_ in them.

"Lavi, you handle him," Kanda spoke up after his silence. "I'll get her to the car."

The red head nodded stiffly, standing up just in time Sheryl reached them, blocking his view. Lavi had a death grip on Sheryl, pulling him to a side.

"I thought the Noah had better security," he started off, but his voice was already void of emotion. "Care to explain why this happened?"

Sheryl stared at a blue soaked Kanda carrying Reiichi out of the rest room, noticing the hard glare he was under.

"What happened?"

"That's exactly what I want to ask you," Lavi growled low.

"Bookman," Sheryl frowned deeply. "As much as we have our _history_, I swear that the Noah clan had nothing to do with whatever unfortunate event that befell Kuroshi Reiichi. It's more insulting on my side to say that security allowed such a thing to happen,"

Lavi was good at reading people, but Sheryl was irritatingly cool with a poker face. It was too suspicious though. "And so it is was purely by chance that you showed up here when I've just found her even though you said you've sent your people to find her?"

"I sent them out of the mansion because it was more probable that Kuroshi Reiichi wandered off on her own," Sheryl explained. "I only came here because Road told me someone was using our private restroom,"

"I will be back tomorrow morning and I want this place investigated," Lavi finally demanded. "If you try to cover anything I will know. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Sheryl nodded seriously. "We apologize for the situation."

"Tell that to Rei-chan yourself," Lavi gave him a hard look. "I want you to clear the foyer so we can leave without disruptions."

_This matter is under wraps._

"Certainly,"

* * *

"Sorry," Lavi said once they were all in the car.

He knew how _clean_ Kanda liked to be, and the blue liquid spoiling the car seats was something Kanda didn't like. Kanda did not reply, but merely stepped on the pedal and turned out of the area.

"Are we-"

"Yes." Was Kanda's curt reply.

"Thanks Yuu," Lavi smiled gratefully.

They were heading to Kanda's place, because he knew Panda would definitely not like bleach on their books and papers littering the small complex. Moreover there was no where to put her up because the couch was also home to various kinds of text.

He grabbed her limp hand into his, squeezing tightly. Her breathing had evened out, which was good. But there was still the problem of washing the liquid off her and her dress was ruined, he mourned. He needed female help.

"Lena-chan?"

"_Have you found Reiichi, Lavi_?" her voice was soft but urgent over the phone.

"Yeah," he sounded grim and he knew it worried the girl over the line. "Listen, could you bring a change of clothes for her? Yuu's place."

"_Is she alright?"_

"…I hope she will be,"

"_Don't do anything stupid okay? We'll be there,"_

"Lenalee!" He whined. "I won't do anything stupid how can you say that?"

She chuckled. "_You certainly sound grave enough to do so. Don't worry Lavi. We're on our way_,"

* * *

Tyki itched for a smoke, but he knew he couldn't because the Earl didn't like them smoking in an air conditioned room. Well, the Earl's orders might as well be dammed if he was kept in the dark for half an hour now. The entire family was seated around a fairly large table. They were called in for one of their "meetings" which was usually held on the Earl's whim.

The last time, they were called to discuss about naming Rhode's new pet fish. Tyki didn't get the point because the fish died the next day, predictably.

The said girl was curled up in her chair, licking her lollipop as she flipped through a book. A torture book, he'd bet. The twins were off making their own racket that Tyki learned to tune out, Skin was eating his beloved ice cream. Lulubell was off in Romania for a modeling shoot, lucky her. Wisely was drumming his fingers on the table absently. And that left the Earl grinning into the nothingness creepily.

"So…." He started, trying to make someone say something. "What are we here for?"

"Waiting for Sheryl," Rhode chirped, flipping her page without glancing at him.

It seemed like no one wanted to get it on, so Tyki fiddled with his soon to be lit cigarette. Heck, if no one was watching then he might as well light it. The door suddenly slammed open, but the occupants in the room merely gazed at the direction of the sound.

"Finally," Tyki sighed as he saw Sheryl stride through the door. "What took you so long?"

"The security boys had trouble burning the video," Sheryl tutted, placing a disc on the table. "Thank god they're going to be fired anyway."

Rhode jumped, snatching the disc off the table and twirled it around her finger. She looked fascinated with the reflection of the disc as it rotated.

"Good, good," Earl gestured for Sheryl to sit. "First thing next morning, I want a meeting with the head of Matsumoto-"

"Already done," Sheryl informed him.

"Woah, slow down," Tyki drummed his fingers on the table. "Can someone _care_ to tell me what going on?"

Usually the Earl loved to make a declaration of what was going on before launching into his own ramble about what should be done.

Six pairs of eyes stared at him. No one offered to enlighten the man, so Sheryl took it upon himself to do so.

"_Tyki_," he shook his head as if he was reprimanding a child. "We're on plan number one hundred and forty three,"

"I thought that was last week,"

"No, that's plan number three hundred and seventy," Sheryl frowned impatiently. "Weren't you listening the last time?"

Obviously not, because all Tyki remembered was Rhode's pet fish.

"Tyki-pyon," the Earl smiled at him endearingly. "We're over taking the Matsumoto group."

"Yeah I knew that," he shrugged. Industry domination. "But what's in that disc?"

"Evidence," Sheryl raised an eyebrow at him. "For Kuroshi Reiichi's apparent kidnapping..?"

"Kidnapping?"

Wisely snorted. "Dude, where have you been? Weren't you aware that Kuroshi Reiichi had a little mischap?"

"Bookman did ask me where she was..." Tyki rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"She was knocked out, gagged and bound in our second floor restroom by Matsumoto's daughter," Sheryl filled him in helpfully. "So we're using that as blackmail against Matsumoto."

"No one noticed this?" Tyki raised an eyebrow. "We have security cameras all over the place."

"Of course we noticed," the other man looked insulted. "But we agreed it was better to let it happen. You were supposed to seduce the girl, not leave her to dance with Kanda Yuu," he continued, displeased. "But at least your blunder brought us somewhere."

"Tyki- you suck!" Debitto and Jasdero cawed loudly, sticking out their tongues.

Tyki ignored them. There was still something not reassuring about this.

"Won't everyone else know that such a thing happened under our tight security?"

"That's why we're firing our security for their apparent inefficiency," Wisely droned, bored. "Anyway the only person who knows that happened was Kanda Yuu and Lavi Bookman wouldn't want such an incident to be publicized heavily."

"We, however, are going to apologize for this _unfortunate_ event," the Earl cut in. "Tyki-pyon, send the girl flowers, bring her out, whatever. Get her on our side."

Tyki rolled his eyes. "You want her that badly huh."

"If she comes, Lavi Bookman and Kanda Yuu will follow," Wisely explained matter of factly. "Unless of course, if you can't do a simple thing like getting a girl to like you…"

Tyki smirked. "Consider it done."

Debitto snorted from the sidelines. "I'd bet I have better luck with her."

"Oh?" The Earl glanced at him curiously. "And how do you know that?"

"She likes our music," he started, but immediately stopped when he realized he practically said that he met her. At the ball.

"Why were you there," it wasn't a question, but a demand.

The Earl was looking at him smiling.

"I-I just wanted to meet her," Debitto spoke up, but his own voice was betraying him. "You guys go on and on and on about her – I just wanted to see what was so special-"

"There is nothing special about her," Sheryl cut in. "The only thing that she's of worth currently is her relationship with Lavi Bookman."

"…I like her," Debitto pouted stubbornly. "I bet I can get her to our side faster than Tyki's womanizing ways."

"I want to meet her," Jasdero added in, matching Debitto's expression.

Sheryl sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Earl?"

"Let them do as they please," the man in charge replied. "Tyki-pyon and the twins can battle it out-"

"I do not want to be involved in their childish game," Tyki pursed his lips.

"Scared you'll lose, Tyki-pyon?" Debitto taunted.

"Or are you scared that you won't win?" Jasdero jeered.

Tyki crushed the cigarette he was fiddling with. Sometimes the twins could really get on his nerves. A playboy extraordinaire failing to get a girl? Blasphemy.

Fine, _game on_.

* * *

**Owari.**

What Rhode was singing was つないだ手にキスを(Tsunaida te ni kiss wo) also more famously known as Allen's song in episode 93. I wanted to put in the Japanese lyrics but it seemed odd because even though they're all speaking in Japanese, I'm typing everything in English already. I have a little OCD about these kind of things. Anyway I've always imagined Rhode to be singing the song just because all Noahs are hypocritical in their own ways…

I'm sorry I didn't reply the last two reviewers because I was busy mugging, so hopefully this chapter was a better reply haha.

On a happy note, I am watching Gundam 00's movie tomorrow! Banzai!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE I'VE TASTED FREEDOM? TWO YEARS.

I've just finished my last written paper (there's still MCQ next week) and I am incredibly glad that I don't have to study (much) anymore. It's been a tough and stupid two year journey for this exam and I've never been more glad that it's all over. I would also like to say that I will never ever take another exam set by Cambridge in my entire life. EVER.

So to celebrate, I bring this chapter, fresh out of my brain after two months of hardcore studying. I apologise if my writing sucks.

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

Lavi stared listlessly at the scene in front of him. Reiichi was tucked under blankets in his bed, face clean from her harassment. Lenalee had done a pretty good job in cleaning her up, he mused._ Gotta thank the lady sometime soon. _It was only a few seconds after they got out of Kanda's car did they hear the screeching of tyres signaling the arrival of Lenalee. The woman was a mad driver – much like Kanda he supposed – proven from the way a little white haired boy shakily got out of the passenger seat and sat on the ground for a good few seconds.

Lenalee immediately took charge upon seeing the state of his cousin, and he gladly let her take control. After all, it would be kind of awkward if he had to strip his cousin down, no matter how close they were. Kanda disappeared the moment they touched his house, so Lavi assumed he went to bathe, knowing the clean freak he was.

So he convinced Allen that it was safe enough (he had touched solid ground!) and they entered the model's house. Once sober, Allen pressed for details. Lavi absolutely hated it when he had to recount bad experiences. He was gifted with photographic memory – something everyone was jealous about – but it made the memory a million times more painful. He would never forget the sight of his cousin bullied to such a degree. He was clenching his fists unknowingly just thinking about it.

They were all seated around his bed with Rei blissfully sleeping with a cold ice pack on her forehead to cool her fever. Only the male model was strikingly absent.

Something soft was thrown hard against the back of Lavi's head and he whipped around, snapped out of his stupor. The said missing man was standing at the open closet shirtless with a towel around his shoulders. Kanda closed the closet door and glared at Lavi, looking pointedly at Lavi's feet.

Lavi looked down and realized he pooled a patch of blue bleach on the floor, and he realized sheepishly that the floor around the room was dotted with bleach, following his footsteps.

"Right," Lavi decided to take the man's advice and bathe.

Once the red head was in the bathroom, Lenalee and Allen both turned to Kanda simultaneously. Their expressions were so similar that it actually freaked him out a little.

"What?" he snapped.

Lenalee smiled and took him by the hand to sit with them. He complied mainly because it was never a good thing to be rude to her and secondly, the silence was unnerving him. He'd thought that both of them would chide him for leaving Reiichi alone and thereby it was _his_ fault that she got kidnapped.

"I don't think Reiichi blames you for it you know," Allen spoke up quietly.

"What the fu-"

"It's written all over your face Kanda-kun," Lenalee put in simply.

"What is?"

There was a pause. "Guilt." Lenalee glanced at him. "You couldn't have controlled what happened."

Was it truly that obvious? While Kanda was never as good at holding up a poker face like Lavi, he knew how to keep his emotions in check. Perhaps around someone who knew him for too long, who understood him more than he did himself...

He didn't deny the guilt. He was not going to delude himself into thinking that what happened to Reiichi had absolutely nothing to do with him. He heard it first hand. It was his fault in the first place that he assumed it was going to be safe in a place crawling with Noah, it was his fault that some girl was too jealous to think coherently. It was again, his fault that Lavi was probably hurting inside since…a long time ago.

A buzzing noise alerted Lenalee that her cellphone was ringing. Predictably, it was Komui.

"Kanda-kun?" the female model clapped his shoulder. "Call me when Reiichi wakes up tomorrow."

Kanda nodded absentmindedly.

Allen left with Lenalee, leaving Kanda back to his thoughts. Kanda busied himself with cleaning the bleach off the floor. He particularly hated it when the floor was dirty, especially since he was walking around barefoot. When he deemed it was satisfactory, he sat back into the chair he was in earlier. He didn't realize he was staring into space until Lavi took a seat beside him, changed into fresh clothes. The duo sat silently for minutes.

"You're thinking about something," Lavi stated.

There was a non-committal grunt.

"Come on Yuu, just say it," he prodded. "You know I am going to annoy the hell out of you because I need my curiosity satisfied."

"I'm not thinking about anything," Kanda retorted.

"Really Yuu? You seem really distracted," Lavi raised an eyebrow. "If you didn't notice you haven't put on a shirt-"

"My hair's not dry yet,"

"-and I know you hate walking around without a shirt," the genius continued. "Wet hair or not."

"I decided not to. So?"

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…"

God. Even if Lavi was in worried mode about his cousin he still could be so damn annoying when he wanted to. But he couldn't say it because it was his fault. Entirely.

"Yuu~" Lavi had decided to put on his pseudo high voice that made him cringe, not only because it was bad, but it reminded him of Matsumoto. "Tell me~"

There and then, Kanda's nonexistent patience snapped.

"Shut the hell up!" he shoved Lavi off the chair. Hard.

"Yuu-channnnn~" Now the idiot was glomping him. While he was shirtless.

"Get the fuck off me and I'll tell you,"

Like magic, the rabbit was sitting back into his own chair with an innocent façade. He waited patiently, because while Kanda took a long time to do something he didn't want, he was a man of his words.

"I saw who did it," Kanda suddenly said.

Lavi blinked, not expecting this.

"Matsumoto's daughter," He added.

There was a long drawn silence as Lavi took in the information. Kanda gave up no more information on his part. If it was really Matsumoto's daughter – Matsumoto Junki - then… Sheryl was not lying. The Noah were not involved.

No… there was no way a kidnapping occurred on their grounds. It was too suspicious to dismiss…

But to think it was Matsumoto Junki who did this to Reiichi… Lavi's eyes went cold. He knew about the girl whom Reiichi complained about to him almost on a weekly basis. He knew her from Kanda who tried to avoid her like death during parties. Since the first time she was introduced to him during a stint he did for one of their group's models, he knew she was trouble. But he didn't realize just how much trouble she really was.

Eyeing the bruises on Reiichi's neck and that line of red that had thankfully stopped bleeding, Lavi was never going to forgive Matsumoto Junki. It was unprofessional, a personal grudge, he knew. Even so.

Kanda's eyes did not miss Lavi's tightening fists as his friend processed the newly revealed fact.

"…And I know why she did it," he started before he could stop himself.

"Why?" Lavi's eye was on him, blank, devoid of any emotion.

Kanda couldn't say it.

It was probably the first time that he really felt he was wholly responsible. It felt foreign, like a bug on his chest that wouldn't go away.

"…Because of… Yuu?"

But Lavi was smart. He pieced things together easily. The lack of response from the Japanese answered his question. It wasn't like it was hard to guess actually. Anyone around could see that Matsumoto Junki was as infatuated with the model as any of his other fans. The difference was that she had money. And that made her spoiled enough to do drastic things.

Like kidnapping his cousin.

He could understand why Kanda wanted to keep it to himself. The man had _pride_. It was not easy to admit such a thing.

"Are you…" Kanda actually sounded hesitant. He made a vague hand motion.

"Angry?" Lavi guessed. "No. Not at you."

Kanda let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. As annoying as the red head could get, they'd been through together too much.

"Thank you," Lavi added for assurance. "For telling me."

Kanda nodded, and stood up to leave, but Lavi held him down.

"Yuu, I need a favour," he was saying.

"I need Rei-chan to stay with you."

* * *

Reiichi fumbled around slightly, feeling warm sheets around her. She cracked open one eye, but decided against it when it was too bright. She lazily placed a hand on her face, and she touched something on her forehead. It was cold.

Where was she?

She took the cold thing off and turned to one side, opening her eyes. She was greeted with the sight of someone familiar sitting by the side, a book covering the person's face.

"..La..vi..?" Damn, even her throat was dry and it sounded screechy. Just what happened to her? She couldn't really recall much at this point in time.

The said person lowered the book. Long black hair…. It was Kanda. What was he doing here? She tried to speak, but her voice failed her this time. The man got up from his seat and placed the book on the bed side table, then left the room wordlessly. _Okay…_

She sat up fully, taking in her surroundings. She wasn't wearing her clothes. This was not her dorm room. It was furbished much nicer then what she was used to. Not to mention it was a lot bigger. There was a closet on the side, a bookshelf filled with tons of books, cupboards that blended well with the design of the room, a work desk with the appropriate stationary…

This wasn't Lavi's room either.

Kanda walked back in with a glass of water and he pushed it to her hands. She drank it greedily, feeling the cool liquid soothe her throat. Once finished, she sat there trying to form conclusions.

"Where am I?" She asked after a minute of silence.

"My house,"

Pause.

"…This is not your bed right?"

"No,"

"Good," she blinked. "Then who's is this?"

"Guest room," Or rather, the supposed to be guest room that Lavi took over.

Again, another silence.

"Why am I here?"

"You…" Kanda found it hard to explain. "Something happened yesterday. To you. At the charity ball."

Charity ball? What charity ball?

Suddenly the previous day's events came crashing into her memory like a truck. There was Debitto. And Sheryl. The dance with Tyki Mikk, and then Kanda. She remembered being pissed off with Kanda. Then… Matsumoto. Oh.

"Kanda you.."

He stiffened.

"..found me right?"

The model was staring back at her incredulously. He guessed she didn't know he knew what Matsumoto's motive was. "..Yes."

"Then thank you," she smiled sincerely.

It was at that smile that Kanda looked away. It felt so wrong to be on the receiving end. There he was, expecting a tirade from her when she woke up, and here she was, grateful for something that didn't have to be done if her kidnapping didn't occur in the first place. She was doing something gravely incorrect. She wasn't supposed to thank him in any way.

He sighed.

"I know,"

"Know what?"

"Why she did this to you,"

Reiichi nodded. "So?"

"So?" Kanda raised an eyebrow. "It's because of me isn't it? Why the fuck are you not angry?"

"Because of you?" Reiichi nearly laughed. "Kanda… how did you reach that conclusion?"

"I called you," he stated bluntly. "And the girl received the call. She was threatening you… because of me."

"Well yes…but there were other factors involved," she explained. "Like Lavi. And this whole project with you in general."

She immediately regretted the 'with you' once she said it, seeing Kanda's expression darken further.

"Kanda, it's not like you to worrying about someone," she observed. "Especially if it's me."

"I'm not worried about you," he retorted. "It's just that girl is insulting _me _since I chose you to do the project."

Well. There goes her hope of Kanda actually having _feelings_.

"REI-CHAN~!" A happy rabbit bounded through the door, grinning like the fool he was. "YOU'RE AWAKE!"

"Lavi," she and Kanda were wincing visibly. "Keep it down."

Her cousin didn't really listen to her, because he was crushing her against his body in a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around the male back, savouring the warmth and security that she always felt. She remembered how afraid she was of being left alone in that state. It was uncomfortable and it bloody _hurt_. She tightened her hold.

"You're feeling alright?" He asked gently, rubbing circles on her back. He knew the shock of events was slowing fading away and she was about to be hit with overwhelming emotions.

"Yeah," she hugged him a second longer before letting go. "Where were you?"

(Kanda had taken the chance to escape during the public display of affection.)

He sat on the bed beside her. "I went to the Noah mansion to have a talk with them. It's ridiculous how all their video camera were supposedly _down_ yesterday-"

"Lavi," she placed a hand on his arm. She could hear the anger arising in his voice. "Don't. Just… leave it."

"Rei-chan..? Are you sure? We could charge Matsumoto in court for this,"

"Her father would buy her out," she mused wryly. "Of course, I won't forget this. But I want to settle this on my own."

"…I understand," he finally replied. "One more thing,"

"Yes?"

"You're quitting the Black Academy,"

"…."

"Actually one more."

"…"

"You're staying with Yuu from now on."

* * *

Lavi sulked at the kitchen table, whining loudly.

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…."

Kanda was preparing dinner involuntarily because Lavi would burn his kitchen, and he really did not want to leave Lavi alone in his house. He would probably find his house burnt to the ground. He had tuned out Lavi's voice after the red head was whining for about five hours now. It was better to focus on more happy thoughts. Like the soba he was cooking.

"It's been four hours, forty nine minutes and thirty two seconds and she's still not opening the door!"

"Mmm," he replied back unconsciously.

"I knew she'd be angry but this is taking it too far!"

"Mmm,"

"You're not listening to me are you, Yuu-chan!"

"Mmm,"

"YUU! WHAT IF SHE STARVES? SHE HASN'T EATEN ANYTHING SINCE YESTERDA-"

Kanda threw a pack of flour he intended for his tempura at Lavi's face. There as a limit dammit. He would totally kick Lavi out, only that the soba noodles would be overcooked. The redhead was now fiddling with the pack of flour he caught, easily distracted.

This situation was definitely **not** Kanda's fault.

Lavi brilliantly decided to quit Reiichi out of design school on her behalf this morning, with a very pleased third finger shoved into Leverrier's face. Understandably he didn't want Reiichi to be anywhere near Matsumoto ever again, and since they were classmates, or schoolmates, he decided to change that. As if Lavi didn't know she would be pissed at him for making decisions that controlled her life.

To add fuel to the fire, Reiichi was told that she would be cohabitating with Kanda. It sounded like a very bad match make plan, if only Lavi didn't have a good reason. Since Reiichi was, unfortunately, a drop out, it was understood that she was under _Innocence_ full time now. Hence it was better that she lived somewhere where it was convenient for her, i.e, Kanda as her chauffeur. That and Kanda's house was like Lavi's second home after his and the old man's tiny place.

Reiichi had taken a while to digest the information. When she did, they escalated from arguing to screaming until Reiichi pushed Lavi out the room and locked herself in.

But five hours was crazy. It wasn't like Kanda was pleased with the idea of her living with him either. He liked his personal space. Plus he had known Lavi for years now, so he could tolerate his antics, but he met Reiichi for like what, three weeks? Or was it four? Not to mention having a _girl_ in the house was going to bring trouble. Like rumours.

So why did he agree anyway?

Lavi was off the chair again, pacing around the kitchen table. Then he walked back to the door of his –now hers – room, and knocked.

"Rei-chan….." he pleaded. "Come on, open up…."

"Rei…" he tried again when there was no answer. "REI-CHAN DID YOU FAINT FROM HUNGER-"

"Lavi," a voice came from behind the door. "I really don't want to talk to you so go away."

"But it's been five hours now, how long are you going to ignore me?"

"Until you reverse all that you've done,"

"Can't do that Rei-chan,"

"Then go away,"

"Rei-chan…."

"This is getting fucking stupid," Kanda declared. His soba noodles were done and perfect, but the situation in his house was honestly infuriating him to no end.

He took a key from one of the drawers, stomped to the locked door, shoved Lavi aside and unlocked it. He entered it and slammed the door shut after him, and locked the door in Lavi's face again.

"YUU! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU HAD A KEY! YUUU!"

Kanda ignored the voice.

He surveyed the girl in the room, huddled on the bed staring at him in shock. He had a sinking feeling in his gut when he noticed the ever obvious cut and bruises on her neck. A displeased frown was marring her features, no doubt trying to cool her temper since five hours ago. Man, the girl had deep grudges.

"Why are you being so difficult?" He demanded, leaning against the door.

"I'm not being difficult,"

There they were, playing the guessing game again.

"Then I want you out of this room, now," he glared. "This is my house and the baka usagi is making a racket because of you. So leave,"

"In case you haven't heard, Kanda," she was starting to seethe. "I'm living here. With you."

"I've heard,"

"WHY ARE YOU SO AGREEABLE? ARE YOU ILL? DID LAVI POISON YOU OR HYPMOTISE YOU-"

Kanda stalked across the room and shook her. "Will you stop it already?" An emotional female was something he didn't like to confront.

Reiichi breathed deeply, her fists still in clenches. "As Lavi's best friend, can you convince him to undo everything he did?"

"No," he stated bluntly. "Anyway you are too uptight-"

"I'm not being _uptight_-"

"You are now."

"Kanda," she suddenly spoke with a softer voice. "Everything I've done is to succeed on my own. I didn't want to do this project because I knew what everyone would assume. I don't want to leave something I've started. Can you understand this?"

"Look, woman," he retreated to lean against the wall next to the bed. "Sometimes it would be better to stop trying on your own…

..Can _you _understand that?"

* * *

**Owari.**

Was it was weird place to stop? I hope the meaning got across. Basically Kanda is trying to tell her that she should consider herself lucky that she has the opportunities that Lavi is trying to create for her instead of rejecting it all the time.

Kanda seems a little too nice in this chapter, something which I am not particularly happy about. But he's juggling his guilt and so he's more compliant…

I hope it's not getting too draggy..


	13. Chapter 13

**-Imitation Black-  
**

Reiichi was hungry.

It has been an hour since Kanda had left her alone to mull over what he said. She did feel much calmer to think about things over rationally. Yes, it was a good opportunity to be hired officially as a designer. But it still felt like she was _cheating_. She had no degree whatsoever, plus Lavi and his best friend aka top Japanese model Kanda Yuu was tagged to her name forever to boot. If that didn't scream freeloader, she didn't know what else did.

_Lavi, why do you always like to meddle with my affairs?_

Objectively looking at her situation, it was a good chance. She had Cross Enterprise at her fingers, no monetary restrictions, and she had an official job that she liked. Not too bad. It wasn't like she was particularly fond of the school either. Perhaps she'd miss Link-sensei and a few of her classmates, but she could always seek them out in her free time to chat.

Speaking of which she realized her phone which was sitting innocently on the work desk had been cracked by one Matsumoto. The second realization hit harder – her phone was not waterproof, and that meant all her contacts were gone. She groaned.

Putting one headache aside, there was still other bomb that her beloved cousin dropped on her. Staying with Kanda? Kanda Yuu, most wanted man on the streets, most likely to be stalked by raving rabid fangirls like Matsumoto, most infuriating human on earth- well, she conceded that Lavi was pissing her off more today-

Not a chance in hell.

It wasn't like she'd never lived with people before. She grew up in an orphanage, and if anything, "sharing your space" was the first thing she learnt. Rather, she was more wary of Kanda sharing his space. She was pretty sure he liked peace. And quiet. And well, not another person in the house who was, still, almost strangers. He definitely had been bribed with something for him to agree…

She was earning money wasn't she? Perhaps she could seek out her own apartment. Not like Lavi would agree, but hey, he didn't have to know. Once reaching an acceptable conclusion, her stomach rumbled loudly as if on cue. Right. Her last meal had been chocolate cake. Maybe about 20 hours ago?

Reiichi padded softly towards the door, turning the knob and opening it in a swift motion.

"Woa-"

Something hit her shin and she jumped back in shock. It was a mass of red hair, much like her own.

"Rei-chan~!" Hands grabbed her legs together and she found that she was going to lose her balance pretty soon.

Luckily the offender let go once he realized she wasn't going to lock him out. He stood up quickly, facing her.

"Are you… still mad?" He pouted slightly, shuffling his feet.

Reiichi knew he was trying to pull his best kicked puppy look expression. Too bad that it never really worked on her.

"Yes," she stated bluntly. "But I'm hungry,"

She knew it sounded childish, but right now she didn't really care.

Lavi wordlessly pulled her along to what she assumed was the dining table. There was a plate of soba and tempura along with a bowl of miso soup. She dug in while Lavi sat across her and watched.

"I've sent for people to get your things from your dorm," he started off, straight to the point. "They'll be here pretty soon, so check if they've missed anything,"

Reiichi stopped her chopsticks. "…I'm staying here already?"

"Yeah, your stupid principal only gave me one day to clear you out," he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Anyway. Rei-chan, you're not… uncomfortable… about this are you?" he leaned forward concernedly.

"Uncomfortable with what?" she raised an eyebrow. "Unknown people touching my things and inevitably, my undergarments?"

"Wel-," Lavi stopped short suddenly, then paled. "Not that, I mean- _That_, but-" There was nothing he could do about that now… "I meant living here. With Yuu."

Reiichi rolled her eyes while she sipped her soup. "Not like that's going to move me out of here right?"

Lavi chuckled at her flippant behavior. So she was getting used to this already. "Nope. But if it means anything, I know he won't try anything funny with you."

"Am I paying him to live here?" Reiichi asked suddenly.

"You could…." He dragged. "But he doesn't need it. Really."

The doorbell rang and Lavi went to get it. Reiichi took the chance to take in her surroundings.

So this was Kanda's living place. It suited him, she thought. The overall décor was pretty much zen. There were no random paintings or photographs on the wall, no weird ornament in sight. The dining table she was at sat a just a little outside the kitchen. From there further away was the living room, with a huge slim tv screen hung against the white wall. There was a stack of discs and a play station with controllers near it. She didn't have to guess that those were probably Lavi's doing. She just couldn't really imagine Kanda gaming.

The couch looked comfortable, though there was one bright orange cushion amongst the rest of the blacks that definitely belonged to her cousin. A low table sat in front of the couch. Then there was the corridor she walked out of. She guessed that all the bedrooms were probably situated there. There was another corridor though, that she just spotted. In all, it was a pretty spacious one storey place.

Several minutes later people carrying boxes entered the house and dumped her things into her room under Lavi's directions. She groaned again, already imagining the unpacking she had to do. She cleared her plates and bowl in the kitchen, leaving them out to dry once they were washed.

Lavi pulled and flopped her on the couch (it was comfy) when he was done. He fiddled through the stack and finally pulled one out and inserted it into the playstation.

"What are we playing?"

"Watching," he replied, sinking in next to her while he lazily adjusted the setting on screen with a controller. "This is Blu Ray. I just got the entire Ghibli set recently," he grinned. "I know you'll like this one."

"Before this starts though, I want to remind you about the press meeting tomorrow,"

"It's not 'remind', Lavi," Reiichi said calmly, although his words had just hit her and she was starting to feel nervous already. "Because you've never told me this before."

"Yes I did," he was grinning smugly. "I don't forget."

"Well, I do," she retorted, knowing that she couldn't win this one.

"Relax, it's just a little chat. They'll just be asking questions about this project you're doing. Anyway Yuu and I will be there. Oh yeah," he snapped his fingers. "This week's theme is_ Jealousy_. I know you lost two days because of what happened but you're free from school obligations now."

"Jealousy..." she turned it over it her head. "Shouldn't be too difficult I think…"

"Good to know," Lavi turned back to the screen and sighed happily as he snuggled with the bright orange cushion. "This is exactly why I love Yuu…. and his house."

She snorted.

The movie started once Lavi's fingers pressed the button on the controller.

_Sen to chihiro no kamikakushi._

Sometimes, having a cousin who knew all your likes and dislikes plus photographic memory meant that he could manipulate you well. She knew Lavi was trying to make it up to her with the movie.

She knew her cousin well too.

* * *

It was difficult to sleep after that.

Not only was Reiichi unused to the bed, her cousin kept hogging the blanket. But somewhere in the night she had apparently kicked him off the bed so that was retribution. When she slept, she dreamt of the movie like she always did. In many ways she admired Chihiro, the female lead. It was amazing the way the little girl grew up to be a courageous young lady. The story never failed to warm her heart either. Of course, the cynic in her knew she'd never met a Haku.

Vaguely she wondered if Kanda could pull Haku's look off. You know, what if Kanda cuts his hair. Unlikely, she thought. The man seemed to have an attachment to his hair. Though a short haired Kanda was something she really wanted to see.

They were up extremely early. Mostly because she was nervous and couldn't sleep anymore and Lavi, well, he wanted to raid the kitchen before Kanda came in. She had barely sorted out anything from the boxes but she did manage to find something proper to wear today. It was very unlike what she usually wore, but she guessed it was necessary.

She wore a nude top with a black bubble skirt. It was a combination she made sometime last year for a slight casual formal event. The top was fitted perfectly to her body, of course, she knew her body size well. It looked plain from afar, but on closer inspection there was a slight wavy pattern on one side of the top that wrapped around to the back. The skirt was more elaborate – she had it folded into what looked like a flower and it cut nicely slightly lower than mid thigh. Lavi suggested diamond ear studs which she agreed with, and her ever usual ring necklace adorned her neck. She wore black stockings to accentuate the professional look, and she had already decided to pair it with the red heels.

She barely wore make up, but this time she used it more to cover the bruises and cut on her neck.

Lavi was more relaxed in his dressing. He wore his usual shirt, jacket and pants combination, but she supposed it suited him. Anyway it wasn't him that the media would be judgmental about. It was her.

Reiichi was currently watching Lavi fiddling with the coffee maker while she spread her peanut butter on her toast. It was quite amusing actually, to see her cousin rummage through the kitchen as though he owned the place. Which brought her to her suspicions. Were he and Kanda really _that_ close? They were cohabitating together… almost. Oh god, that sounded gay.

"Us…sa..gi…." a growl came from the entrance of the kitchen and both of the relatives looked up. Kanda was furious, and quickly had his fist closed around Lavi's neck, ripping the poor boy away from the coffee maker.

"Yuu~~" Lavi was waving his arms pathetically at the machine, already starting to sob. "I need my caffeine, I need my caffeine, I need my caffeine-"

"Shut the fuck up," the model flung his so called best friend away. "The last time you went near that thing, you blew up my kitchen."

"Come on, it was an honest mistake. How was I supposed to know that I'm wasn't to pour the water in that compartment-"

"That was my sixth coffee maker that you destroyed," he glared. "And I don't even drink that disgusting shit."

Kanda padded to the machine, and proceeded to work it the right way.

"You knew he was going to brew you your coffee, didn't you," Reiichi commented mildly.

Lavi all but winked at her.

She turned her attention back to the model who was pouring the water in correct compartment of the machine. He was in a traditional _hakama_, and the _keikogi _was off his shoulders, baring his bare back. He had his hair up in a pony tail, the ends of the strands trailing just at his shoulder blades. No doubt he was practicing kendo for an early workout…. How early did this man wake up?

His back muscles rippled slightly as he moved swiftly - packing the bag of coffee beans into the self – and she noted with some fascination that his back was purely free of blemishes. It wasn't greatly tanned nor was it unusually pale, but it looked smooth and healthy beige. There was no single mark or spot. Most models she had worked with had pretty faces, but their bodies usually had a certain flaw. Maybe a small beauty mark on the shoulder, or a tan line. Kanda's on the other hand, was, did she dare say it, perfect.

A bead of sweat flowed from his neck down the curve of his back. It was almost unnatural.

"What are you staring at hmm?" Lavi's voice breathed into her ear. She jumped, but not before smacking him hard on the arm.

"Rei," Kanda turned to her suddenly, but paused. His cool eyes flickered over her dress code for the day for a few moments, but he didn't comment. "You watch him," he pointed at Lavi who was looking back innocently. "And don't let him near the coffee maker. Or anything in general."

He gave Lavi one final glare before he stalked off back to his room, slamming the door shut with a mutter: _Fucking idiot._

"I've think I've found the reason why Kanda acts like he's got a stick up his ass all the time," Reiichi commented. "You."

"Ouch, Rei-chan, that really hurts," he whimpered dramatically then snickered. "But I take credit for it."

* * *

Kanda was avoiding her. Reiichi could tell.

The only time he showed that he knew she even existed was the incident in the morning. After since he changed and got ready, he was out the door, and Lavi knew it was a sign to move out or be left behind. Reiichi glanced back at the entire mansion when she was out the door appreciatively. It was bigger than she thought, which meant that there were places she haven't yet discovered.

They entered the garage, and she saw that he owed various other sport cars and a motorcycle. Not surprising, but still, she wasn't used to seeing so many expensive cars in one place. It irked her a little.

"Let's take this one!" Lavi tugged at the door of a convertible red Ferrari, but Kanda ignored him and went to his usual black Lamborghini.

Reiichi wisely opted to follow Kanda, the one who had the car keys.

They nearly left Lavi behind, if not for the red head's spectacular sprint across the garage. He found himself in the front passenger seat, leaving Reiichi alone in the backseat. Unfortunately Kanda stepped on the pedal before he could climb behind.

There began their usual routine. Lavi started to play with the radio station, Kanda's ever tightening grip on the wheel gave away his on building irritation, and Reiichi who brought her ipod with her this time, plugged herself away with her music. She wasn't surprised when the car swerved violently suddenly. She held on to the seatbelt tightly and looked out the window. Hopefully they won't crash.

Once they reached the headquarters, she took out her earpiece and was greeted with Kanda's usual colourful vocabulary, cursing Lavi to the pits of hell. She got out of the car ignoring their childish squabble. She was pleasantly surprised to see two figures across the carpark, waving to her.

Reiichi crossed the carpark quickly, smiling as she came up to Debitto and Jasdero. The rockers had on their usual style but were more relaxed. They wore a black shirt with some ripped jeans, and customary black eyeliner and choker.

"Hey sista, how've you been?" Debitto grinned boyishly, and arm around Jasdero. "Introducing the other half of _Jasdevi_, Jasdero."

Jasdero leaned close towards her, invading her personal space. The blonde examined her critically for a few moments, then nodded, satisfied. "Welcome to the family, girl."

Family?

A hard grip landed on Reiichi's shoulder and she looked back. Lavi had on his cold glare she rarely saw.

"What are you guys doing here?" his voice was flat on emotion but she could feel the edges tinged with anger.

"Lavi," she tried to calm him down. "They haven't done anything."

"Look, Bookman," Debitto sighed. Honestly whether his family wanted the photographer or the model was none of his business. "We just want to invite her to our concert. Nothing to do with… you know what."

"Lavi, you go on inside first okay? I'll tell you about it," Reiichi gently pushed Lavi towards the building's glass door, wherein Kanda most likely had already disappeared into.

Her cousin gave them all one warning glance before acceding to her request.

"Sorry about that,"

"It's fine," Debitto waved dismissively. "Anyway how are you feeling? We heard from Sheryl about that other girl-"

"-the one who kidnapped you," Jasdero put in. "We're sorry about that."

"I'm okay," she replied. "I think."

"Good," Debitto was now at one side of her, while Jasdero slid to her other side. Both of them caught her in between. "Since you're a fan and all, we want you to be at our concert," Jasdero thrust a slip of plastic into her hands. "It's a VIP pass, you can come backstage,"

"And," Debitto added, "We want you to design one of our costume changes for the concert."

Reiichi blinked. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," they both answered in unison. "Unless you don't want to..?"

"No! I mean, definitely," she nodded. "I want to."

This was a great opportunity. Not only could she hear them live for free, but they were asking her to design a costume change. For J-rock. It had been long since she was asked to do anything punk style. It was going to be a good challenge.

"Great! We'll contact you," the raven rummaged around for his handphone. "What's your number?"

"Mine'- Actually my phone died," she remembered. She'd had to get a new one asap. "You write yours here," she shoved him the ticket. "I'll call you back when I get a new one."

"Sweet," Jasdero took the honour of writing with a magically produced black marker.

"Alright, we have to go," Debitto announced, not before thrusting a blue rose into her hands. "I heard you like these. Hope it's way better than Tyki's white tulips, hah!"

"White tulips?"

"Yeah, he sent a bunch of them to you didn't he? Aren't you staying at Kanda Yuu's house?"

Maybe she should have wondered how they knew she was staying with Kanda when no one else really knew, but she confused over the tulips.

"No, I didn't receive anything.."

"Well then," Jasdero grinned and high fived his brother. "Sucks to be him!"

"We'll hear from you soon girl!" they waved as they drove off.

Reiichi stood there wondering at the strange exchange. Then she looked the flower in her hand. How did they know that blue roses were her favourite? The more important question was, was this flower even real?

The reason why blue roses held a special meaning was because they signified the impossible. There was just no such thing as a real blue rose. But the petals felt real. And when she examined the stalk it didn't have the ring of blue dye on the xylem.

Still. What white tulips?

* * *

"Ready?" Lavi paused outside the door.

Kanda rolled his eyes, shoving him away and pushing the door open. It wasn't like he was going to drag this thing any longer than it was going to be. Lavi smiled apologetically at Reiichi. She didn't really take offence. After all, it was better to get it done an over with. Taking a deep breath, she straightened her posture and strode in after Kanda.

The flashes immediately blinded her when she stepped in, and it took all her will power not to cover her face. A mass of reporters were sitting in rows of chairs and she went over to the long table in front to sit next to the male model. Lavi joined her quickly, searching for her hand underneath the table to give a reassuring squeeze.

Lavi looked over to someone beside him – an _Innocence_ representative – to start of the press meeting.

"We'll now have Kanda Yuu, Lavi Bookman and Kuroshi Reiichi to share with us their current project on the Seven Deadly Sins,"

Immediately, hands were up in the air from the floor.

"Yes?" The representative gestured to a random reporter.

"Question for Lavi Bookman. Why did you decide to release this project?"

"Well," The photographer tapped his fingers on the table. "We were running out of clothes for Yuu to model."

There was a slight ripple of laughter.

"Nah, we just wanted to do something fun and stretch the abilities of our designer," he concluded grinning.

"Question for Kanda Yuu. Why did you chose Kuroshi Reiichi, a first year from the Black Academy, to be the designer?"

Kanda pursed his lips. He really hated these stupid meetings. "She has talent," he stated shortly.

"Question for Kuroshi Reiichi. Where do you get your inspiration from?"

"For this project… the theme each week already provided a direction for me. I focused on how to bring across my interpretation of the theme to the audience. I think that's basically how I worked for each piece…"

The questions were direct, and straight to the point. It felt cold, devoid of feeling in actual fact. Reiichi was starting to relax after what seemed like non stop questioning. The more questions they asked, the faster she was out of there.

"Question for Kuroshi Reiichi. How do you feel working with your cousin?"

There was a murmur that seized through the crowd and Reiichi clenched her fists. If her relationship with her cousin wasn't a publicized fact already, it would be now. "It's fine," she answered politely, not betraying her actual emotions. "He gives me a lot of creative space."

"Question for Kuroshi Reiichi. Was the dress you wore at the Noah's Charity Ball made by you?"

"Yes, that was supposed to be an exam piece.."

"Is it true that you've dropped out of the Black Academy?"

Lavi and Kanda's eyes flickered to each other. It was the same reporter that let slip her relatedness to the photographer. That man obviously knew more than he should. No one should have yet known about her newly made (albeit forced) decision. She would be in trouble if the reporter knew she was living with the famed male model. Or even anything about the incident in the Noah's mansion.

"Toma!" Lavi hissed to the representative.

Reiichi squirmed uncomfortable under the intense expectant answer. "Well I-"

"I'm sorry, but that's all the questions we can take today," Toma, stepped in front of them, halting the floor to take any more pictures. The trio quickly made their way out and into the empty room beside the one they were in earlier.

"I'm going to look for that reporter," Lavi announced, leaving the other two into the room.

"That was bad right?" Reiichi sighed. "How did that guy know?"

"Stalking, probably," Kanda offered, scowling in his seat.

Minutes later Lavi came back in with the man named Toma with a grim expression. "I couldn't get him," he frowned.

"What do you mean?" Kanda asked suspiciously.

"Toma was waiting at the door for them to file out," he explained while Toma nodded. "But we didn't see him. At all."

There was something uncomfortable about this.

* * *

Reiichi was bored. She had already penciled out the piece she was planning for _Jealousy_, so all that left was to sew the garment tomorrow. It was her second day in the manor of the model and this time Lavi went back to his and the old man's place. She did feel a little uncomfortable, now that she thought about it. She wasn't like Lavi, who had no qualms about breeching other people's priv

acy. She couldn't bring herself to watch the television knowing that it didn't belong to her.

She settled for wandering around. Anyway the place was still left unexplored. Taking the other corridor she never walked through, she found that it opened up in two directions. She went with the one on the right, and ended up outside a sliding door. It was made of wood and traditional paper even. Slowly she slid it open and stepped gingerly in.

It was a dojo. The wooden floor was smooth, and the wide empty space simply kept her silent. She surveyed the rack of _shinai_s and _bokuto_s hung on the wall. Below it there was a sword, curve down, edge facing upwards in its sheath on its holder. Curious, she went closer to examine it.

It was by far one of the most beautiful swords she had seen. The cord wrap was a deep azure, its weave snaking around the entire length of the handle. The guard was a curious shape but she could see that it was sturdy. The scabbard was darker, almost a midnight navy, with a red hanging cord around it. There was a Kanji inscribed in calligraphy.

無限

Mugen.

Infinite.

Reiichi was about to touch it when she realized it probably wasn't a good idea to leave her fingerprints on it. Perhaps she could ask Kanda about it one day.

She exited and slid the door shut silently, satisfied with her discovery. She went to the left this time, and came upon a gymnasium. There were various workout machines about but what caught her eye was that one "wall" consisted of glass and it overlooked a pool. An indoor swimming pool to be exact.

She didn't realize how big his house really was.

Reiichi spied a figure moving in the water swiftly, and she watched. A few seconds later the figure reached the end of the pool, not before body flipping in the water and pushed off, heading off for another lap. It looked like he didn't even need to breathe.

The red head opened the glass door and stepped into the pool area cautiously till she was at the edge of one end of the pool. She sat down, content with just watching. She supposed this was Kanda's general workout routine. It did make sense. An indoor pool guaranteed that he didn't have to bother with sunblock or skin tanning issues.

Kanda did a few more laps, and she was convinced he didn't even realize she was there. However when the model came back in her direction again, he surprised her by pushing himself out of the pool in one seamless motion right in front of her, excess water dripping off him and she jerked back in surprise. She scuttled a little backwards, not wanting to get wet.

For a few seconds they just looked at each other. Kanda regarding her suspiciously, her, regarding him warily.

"I didn't touch your sword," Reiichi blurted out reflexively.

His eyes narrowed. "You better not."

Kanda turned, now sitting at the edge with his legs in the water. He pulled out his hair tie, rinsing his wet hair into the pool. He didn't bother to acknowledge anymore of her presence.

"Are you angry?" she questioned after a period of uncomfortable silence.

He ignored her. Reiichi was starting to lose a little of her temper. "Hey," she prodded him on the back. "You could answer me."

"I could also not," was the smartass reply.

"So you are angry about something that can't be explained,"

Again, silence.

Sometimes the man had more mood swings then a PMS-ing woman. But she didn't feel like pursing the issue today. She centered on the man's back, the object of her latest focus for the _Jealousy _piece. Before she knew it, she had one palm on his back, mentally estimating the measurements for the piece.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kanda jerked away once he felt something foreign.

"Don't move," Reiichi commanded, already set into designer mode. She grabbed his shoulders and made him sit straight.

"It's for your piece this week," she explained, making small traces on his back. It took about 5 palms or so for his entire back.

"What, not going to make me wear green contacts and label a "green-eyed monster-"

She snorted amusedly. "I could always make you wear green contacts. Just saying,"

Kanda stiffened involuntarily when her fingers caressed a sensitive spot. This was exactly why he didn't like people touching him. But if he refused today he'd have to suffer it anyway tomorrow during the fitting since she seemed so entranced with his body.

"Are you done ogling at me?"

There was no answer, but she was now tracing an oval outline. His eyes widened fractionally when he realized she was going to touch him _there_ and he caught her hands before it reached his lower spine. He glared, making sure that he got his point across.

"Stop touching me," he growled low.

"Why Kanda," Damn, she caught on fast. "Don't tell me you're ticklish," a teasing smirk that was usually on his features was on hers. "If Lavi knew thi-"

"You wouldn't," he threatened. He could already imagine the horror. Oh no.

"I might…." She trailed off in sing song. She was starting to resemble his stupid self proclaimed best friend. He knew there was a reason why they were related.

Suddenly a dark grin passed her lips and she aimed for his side. His fast reflexes from Kendo ensured that he was safe, but he missed her entire intention all together. Taking advantage of his uncomfortable body twisted position; she pushed him backwards, sending him back into the pool with a splash.

Reiichi laughed loudly, clutching her stomach as she recounted the "oh shit" expression that Kanda wore before his fell in. It wasn't everyday that the model was caught off guard. But when the said man rose from the waters with his hair down and floating in the water like Medusa, she paled at his expression.

"I'll um, see you tomorrow…" The designer tried to make a run for it, she really did.

Unfortunately she was caught within two seconds of her attempted escape.

The dark murderous aura from Kanda flickered into something even more evil and he smirked. Reiichi tried to pull him away from her wrist, but he was too heavy and too strong. In one motion he swept her off her feet, but it was in no way a romantic gesture. He had her slung over his shoulder, and she could only helplessly try to kick to him. It didn't help that he was still wet and it was soaking through her newly changed attire.

"Kanda- KANDA! LET ME DOWN!" She screamed, trying to strangle him but failing.

The model took great pleasure in walking by the edge of the pool towards the deeper side and hearing her terrified pleas when she realized what he was going to do.

"I'M SORRY! KANDA PLEASE LET ME DOWN! I WON'T TELL LAVI ABOUT YOU BEING TICKLISH LET ME DOWN! I CAN'T-"

He tossed her unceremoniously into the water, a malicious glint in his eyes.

But when Reiichi was left thrashing in the water for the next few seconds that he watched her, he realized what she was trying to say before he threw her in.

She couldn't swim.

He jumped in, surfacing next to her and holding her waist as she clung onto the newly found support. She spluttered, one hand wiping the water off her face, the other curling around his neck.

"You are fucking troublesome," he muttered loudly. "I should just let you drown."

"Maybe you should have," she retorted back sweetly, but instantly regretting it when the man let go immediately.

She held on tighter while he treaded the water easily, not bothering to hold her anymore. Reiichi wanted to die of embarrassment from the smug look on his face. She was clinging on to him like one of his fangirls, something she'd never do unless her life was on the line, like now. It didn't help when she realized he was just in swim wear, i.e, swimming shorts, hence they were practically touching _skin_. Not good for one teenage girl.

This is just Kanda, she reminded herself. Just Lavi's best friend. Another model who just so happens to be attractive. That's it.

"Can we go back to shore?" She nudged. "Now?" It was not a pleasant feeling to feel like she was going to die drowning anytime soon. "Please?" she added.

"No," he was still amused. She could see it.

"I don't want to touch you anymore,"

"Why?" Kanda drew closer, totally against her predictions. She'd thought he'd take it as an insult and at least, push her in the direction of land, but was something unexpected. "Am I making you _uncomfortable_?"

His husky voice was right next to her ear. Her heart was beating faster, and she trembled slightly. She tried to put as much distance between her and him as possible, but it was incredibly hard to do so seeing that she didn't want to drown.

"Don't want to continue our session on _lust_?"

No, she cleared her head. He was just playing with her. She flicked water in his direction, and he pulled back smirking.

"Stop flattering yourself," she snapped sourly. "As if anyone would want to do it with _you_."

He had brought her back to the edge of the pool and he lifted himself easily out, leaving her to struggle herself out. He sauntered away in that way of his, but not before stopping in his tracks.

"Just so you know, purple doesn't suit you."

"What?" Purple? Reiichi furrowed her eyebrows. She wasn't wearing anything purple. She was wearing a white shirt-

Oh crap.

"YOU ASSHOLE!"

* * *

**Owari.**

I hope that wasn't OOC. I would imagine Kanda does have his playful side once in a while…

I was asking my friend for questions that the press would ask, and this was what she suggested.

_Question: Where you do get your inspiration from?_

_Answer: The beloved dead person I'd forgotten that I loved. And that I knew._

That was because she pretended that Kanda was the designer and was making fun of him and Alma. Which I find was the most heart breaking thing ever because MY heart broke when I realized Kanda loving a dead girl/live akuma was canon. Oh the horror. (Yeah he actually loved someone. Hell must have froze over, did anyone check?)


	14. Chapter 14

**-Imitation Black-**

Reiichi turned in her hand her shiny new handphone. It was a clampshell, a _Docomo_, complete with a good quality camera. It was black and slim and fitted nicely into her pockets. She wasn't a technology junkie, but she appreciated new gadgets and the ongoing technology revolution. At this rate there wouldn't be a need for her trusty laptop. The handphone was probably the first thing she had splurged on herself since getting paid by_ Innocence_ and it did make her feel happier.

It was a good thing that she managed to back her previous number back. However, she was now struggling with remembering all her lost contacts. All she had was her orphanage's number, Lavi's handphone number, Lavi's home number… and that was it. She never bothered to remember numbers unless it was necessary (back then she didn't have a phone to store her numbers) and hence she had only the three contacts in her memory.

"Whatcha doing?" Strong arms enveloped her from the back and she knew it was Lavi.

"I can't remember the rest of the numbers I stored," she leaned back into his embrace.

"I can help you," he took the phone off her hands but paused. "But you must promise not to get mad at me,"

"Okay...I don't see how you can help me with this…."

She trailed off as she became speechless. Her eyes widened as she witnessed names and numbers typed into her phone, stored swiftly before a new contact was created and the process repeated. Then it clicked into her mind that her cousin with unfailing memory had, without permission, filtered through her contacts before.

"Lavi…." She growled.

"Hey, you said you wouldn't get angry," He reminded her. "I've been meaning to ask," he continued. "Who is this _Date_?"

Reiichi could totally predict what was coming and she sighed. "Ex-classmate."

"Itsuki?"

"Ex-classmate."

"Kaname?"

"Ex-classmate."

"Kenta?"

"Ex-classmate."

"Masayuki?"

"From the orphanage, you know him."

"I forgot. Takeshi?"

"Don't lie, you can't forget even if you tried. Ex-classmate."

"Taro?"

"Ex-classmate."

"Ryohei?"

"Ex-classmate."

"Ren?"

"Ex-classmate."

"Shuichi?"

"Ex-classmate."

"Yusuke?"

"A guy I met randomly online."

"WHAT?"

"I'm kidding, he was a classmate," she rolled her eyes. "No, I am not romantically involved with any of them and no, I do not want to," Spying the look on his face next to hers she added, "That includes Kanda."

"I didn't even say anything!"

"You wanted to,"

A minute later Lavi snapped her phone shut and handed it back to her. "So how's_ Jealousy_ coming along?"

"Halfway there," Reiichi gestured to the fabric draped on a mannequin in front of her. It was only Tuesday and she reckoned she could finish the piece by the next day. Certainly, quitting school gave her a lot of free time. In fact, she felt a bit lost now that she could actually spend a day doing nothing. Perhaps she should call Debitto and Jasdero about their concert soon..

"Did someone send me flowers last weekend?" She remembered something about white flowers? Not that she particularly wanted it, but she was curious where it went.

"Flowers?" Lavi had let go of her and seated himself on her workbench. "You mean at Yuu's place?"

"Maybe? Debitto told me Tyki MIkk sent tulips or something," She snipped off a section of the fabric. "I could have remembered wrongly though,"

"Mikk huh," the photographer's expression darkened immediately. "Well I would have dumped them away if I saw them,"

"That's kind of harsh…"

"That man is evil!" Lavi insisted. "He's dangerous. Not good for you. He smokes! What if he does drugs? And I'm quite sure he hates cute animals and small kids and old people-"

"I agree with the smoking part but what has children, animals and the elderly got to do anything?"

"It's a judge of character Rei-chan," he said firmly. "Anyway didn't you say you'd marry a guy who was cute with children?"

"Since when did I say anything like that?"

"Like five years, one month and six days ago… don't you remember?"

Reiichi gave him a pointed look.

"I guess not," he sheepishly ruffled his hair. "Anyway if that still stands true till today, Yuu is perfect!"

Oh no. Not this again.

"In all honest truth Lavi," Reiichi began. "That's the most stupid conclusion I've heard in my life thus far."

"But-"

"And," she continued on. "Don't think Kanda would most likely kill a child then to play with it?"

"That's what _you_ think,"

"That's what is most probably going to happen," Really, her cousin's insistence really befuddled her. "You've never seen him interact with children before have you?"

"Well no," Lavi ignored the triumphant 'hah'. "My instincts, my dear cousin! I know this."

Reichi snorted incredulously.

"You want to bet on this then?" Lavi grinned, eyes twinkling mischievously. "If I am right, I want you to consider Yuu."

"Are you really that desperate Lavi?" she raised an eyebrow. "You're going to lose this. Just like our fifty six other bets..."

"Fifty five," he cut in. "It was only fifty five."

"Okay, since you want to lose our fifty sixth bet, I'm on," Reiichi held out her hand. "When I win, I want you to stop meddling with my love life or lack thereof,"

Lavi clasped her hand gripping it tight. "Of course,"

Reiichi was confident that she was going to win this bet like all the others she had won. But that grin on Lavi's face just disturbed her a little. Just a tiny bit.

* * *

For once Kanda was not complaining. Reiichi reached out her hand to feel his forehead in disbelief. Kanda jerked back at the touch, scowling.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Just checking if you're sick or something," she replied. "You're not complaining like you always do."

Kanda's scowl went deeper if that was even possible. "You make me sound like some whiny bitch."

"That's because you are," Reiichi rolled her eyes, ignoring the death glare sent her way. "Anyway, does it fit? Any areas that feel weird?"

The model turned in front of the mirror, occasionally stretching to feel the material over his body. It seemed like the girl had his measurements down to a pat because there was barely any need for adjustments. The reason why he didn't complain this time was because the piece she made this time wasn't… stupid… like the others. (he means: out of his comfort zone) It was very simple actually.

A deep green long sleeved shirt and black skinny jeans with suede shin boots. The only thing that was stood out was a huge hole in the back of his top that was outlined by a white zigzag pattern. It focused the attention to Kanda's back, revealing his almost unnatural smooth skin. It was perhaps a top he would wear willingly, and that was saying something.

"No comments?" Reiichi was sitting on her workbench a few steps behind after concluding that there was nothing much to adjust with the outfit.

"Just about the theme," Kanda faced her. He needed to know her interpretation if he was going to model and her idea this time seemed vague.

Reiichi slid off the workbench, coming forwards towards him. "Hmm…Let's say you're jealous of Lavi-"

"I'm not," he interrupted her. "Who would want to be such an annoyi-"

"Just hypothetically speaking, Kanda." She huffed. "Let's say you're jealous of Lavi's photographic memory. You would continually think about the fact that he has photographic memory, his good point, and forget about the rest of his other not so redeeming qualities, like his-"

"Stupidity," Kanda filled in helpfully.

"Right," It was a good thing Lavi wasn't here or he would be crying right now. "I used that basis in your outfit. As you can see the entire thing is relatively simple and classic, which makes it easy to look over and this focuses attention on the big hole in your back."

"In other words, you think my back in the best part of my body?" The model raised an eyebrow. "You have a back fetish or something?"

"No!" Before she knew it her cheeks were heating up. Reiichi could imagine how Kanda could use that knowledge to his advantage. And how Lavi would have another reason to promote his best friend. "It's just… more eye catching to use your back. It's not like I can use your face-"

Whoops shouldn't have said that. She cleared her throat. "- anyway to answer both your questions: No."

Kanda tilted his head slightly and shrugged a few seconds later. "Whatever. So what's the set going to be like?"

"It's…" Reiichi trailed off in mid thought. "I forgot to call Allen!"

She scrambled around the room for her phone, finding it underneath the stacks of unused fabric. She scrolled down the contact list, but couldn't find it, which was odd, considering Lavi definitely knew she needed his number.

"Hey Kanda, do you have Allen's number?"

"Who's Allen?" Kanda blinked, with honest confusion in his features.

Reiichi stopped in her tracks. Kanda knew him right? "White hair, with a pentacle scar on his face…no?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "Kind of short…"

Kanda snapped his fingers. "You mean the moyashi?"

Reiichi scrolled down the contact list once again, and saw that there was indeed a "Moyashi-chan".

"You honestly don't know Allen's name?" She looked at Kanda incredulously.

"Is there a need to?" he countered, starting to strip of the outfit since he assumed he was done here.

If Allen was under "Moyashi-chan"… Reiichi started scrolling through for Kanda's contact. As she predicted (and feared), it was not under "Kanda Yuu". A few names later she found a name she knew she never entered.

_Koibito _

There was even a heart symbol next to it. Praying that it was not so, she pressed on the number, dialing it. Her horror was confirmed when Kanda reached into his pocket and stared at the screen.

"Why are you calling me?" He shoved the phone's screen in her direction.

Reiichi snapped her phone shut loudly, fists already clenching. She stormed out of the room leaving a half irritated half confused model in the midst of changing.

"LAVI!"

* * *

"Come on Yuu baby," the red head photographer coo-ed from his position behind the camera.

Kanda snapped from his position on set and stalked up to his perhaps best friend and seized him by the collar. "Would you stop with the name calling, usagi? I can't fucking concentrate!"

"Woah, chill Yuu-chan," Lavi tried to pry the finger off his clothes. "We can do this later. You know, at a more private place," he winked almost suggestively, but failed because he only had one eye.

Kanda opted to strangle him this time. "I'll make sure you die a painful death. Die."

"Rei-chan~" Lavi reached out two arms to fail at the designer who was watching Kanda model at the back with Allen. "Your _koibito_ wants to murder me~ Help~"

She glared darkly at Lavi, scaring Allen a little. "Well, I'll assist in killing you then. Kanda, would you like a chainsaw? Or we could stuff a pole down his throat."

"A pole sounds better," Kanda agreed, squeezing tighter upon the _koibito_ comment.

"Ack! I'm dying!"

"Guys!" Allen screamed over the commotion. "Be serious will you?"

It was only then did Kanda and Lavi realize the rest of the photographing crew and Fou were staring at their exchange, not knowing whether to laugh or be scared. The model released the photographer roughly, returning back to his original position.

"You, shut up," he pointed at Lavi, who saluted him.

The command didn't last more than a minute, but Lavi stopped with the disgusting nicknames. Allen sighed, shaking his head. He often wondered how the two were supposedly the best in the industry if they acted like that on a near daily basis. But once both of them got into serious mode, the reason was probably obvious.

He watched as Kanda pulled a seductive look over his shoulder at the camera, revealing the focus of Reiichi's outfit to the best angle for Lavi to capture. Initially he was shocked when Reiichi told him the set for this week was a "no set", meaning Kanda was modeling against a plain white background. He was curious, so he arrived as he always did during their shooting session. Allen could say he would agree with Reiichi on leaving it as a plain background.

He glanced at the girl next to him who was watching the session quietly. He wasn't sure what had changed, but she seemed to accept her model a lot more as compared to the first week. Perhaps the kidnapping incident brought them a tiny bit closer. She even had her rapt attention devoted to watching, whereas she only glanced in the beginning. She looked more content…and was that.. maybe, a _dreamy_ expression that flickered?

No, can't be. Reiichi had vehemently refused any sort of attachment or affection to the model.

Allen looked back to the model. That hole in the back of the shirt was really starting to give him some ideas. His hands twitched as he thought of all the possible things he could do.

He grinned darkly.

* * *

The shoot finished relatively quickly after the model and photographer (largely the photographer) stopped fooling around. There wasn't much to clear up either seeing that it was a 'no set' and the rest of the work crew left early, leaving Lavi and Kanda to browse through the photos the red head had taken.

"Hmm, I think we should use this one," Lavi paused at a particular photograph in which he captured.

"The previous one was better," Kanda disagreed.

It was a rare sight because they were actually communicating without trying to kill/annoy each other.

"Rei-chan, what do you think?"

The girl hung behind both of them, but leaned forwards when Lavi offered the camera screen closer to her. "I think the first one would be better for the first page."

"But you can't see Yuu's face with the light!"

"But everyone knows it's him, don't they? I'm not saying it's for the cover but the first page of the spread. It's sort of like an introduction, you know?"

"Yuu?"

Kanda shrugged nonchalantly, which was as good as an agreement. "I stand by the second photo for the cover."

"But the third one is so much sexier!" Lavi pouted, pressing the button to shift between the two pictures back and forth.

They were all so engrossed in discussing the shoot that they didn't realize the lack of appearance of a certain white haired boy.

"The theme- FUCK!"

Kanda was cut off as he felt something wet and cold slide down his bare back. He wiped the moisture off vigorously with a free hand, whipping around sharply to see a short smirking boy with a few ice cubes in one hand, waving an ice cube with the other cheerfully at him.

"How did that feel, Ba-Kanda?" he taunted.

Kanda's eyes narrowed dangerously and he lunged for the brat. Allen had anticipated it and dodged past Lavi, slipping the ice cube in his hand down Lavi's shirt, earning another howl.

"AH COLD!" Lavi jumped, nearly dropping his beloved camera in the process.

Meanwhile the other two males had taken off, one chasing the other around the basement. Lavi thrust the camera into Reiichi's hands for safekeeping before picking up the ice that had fallen to the floor and he went in search of no doubt Allen for revenge.

Reiichi shook her head amusedly at their antics. There was another shriek that penetrated throughout the level that probably belonged to Allen, as well as a few other loud profanities that were from Kanda. Seconds later loud Lavi laughter rang through the air. Reiichi placed Lavi's camera on a table nearby and went in search for the rest.

Before she could step into the hallway however, Lavi came running past her and he pulled her back into the empty set space, wheezing with laughter as he did so. She turned around just in time to see Allen backing away slowly with Kanda moving forward like he was his prey. There was a pure predatory grin on his features and he looked downright evil, much like that pool incident. Allen was in so much trouble, she thought.

She was paying too much attention to the other two and didn't realize that she herself was in trouble. Lavi took advantage of her naivety that she assumed he wouldn't do anything to her and dropped two ice cubes down her back, laughing hysterically as she screamed in surprise, trying to take the frozen water out. It was difficult since she tucked in her top, but she caught them nicely when she untucked the shirt and she advanced back towards Lavi smirking.

After careful treading around each other Lavi and Allen found themselves back to back with Kanda and Reiichi stalking them from the peripherals. Both of the predators had the cold ice in their hands and the prey, none. Lavi quickly calculated his newly forming plan and whispered a few choice words to Allen who nodded.

Both of them lunged towards their predators simultaneously, hoping to use the element of surprise. Unfortunately, Kanda and Reiichi were relatively fast thinkers and reacted quickly. What happened next was over in a few short seconds.

Allen managed to slap his ice cold hand on Kanda's bare back earning a sharp jerk and curse, but he didn't get away unscathed as Kanda dumped all the ice he had in his hands down Allen's back, which was about six ice cubes worth. Lavi tried to fight with Reiichi for the ice she had in her hands, but failed as she somehow managed to stuff one down his _pants_. (which should technically be impossible because his pants were tight)

In the midst of all the commotion they all managed to collide with each other. It wouldn't have been a big deal if Lavi wasn't jumping and trying to take the ice out, but the photographer managed to somehow trip Kanda who was squabbling with Allen into the direction of Reiichi who was trying not to die laughing. Lavi grabbed the nearest support which was Allen to balance himself but instead was pulled along as Allen fell backwards onto his arguing partner.

It led to an awkward scene that Lavi would have been proud if he actually planned it but he did not. So he settled for taking advantage of the situation. He swung a leg over Allen and straddled Allen's stomach, not caring at all for the collective groans under the extra weight. His dear cousin was beneath it all, right at the bottom.

"God, you guys need to lose weight. I'm going to die of suffocation," she coughed, trying to push the person on top off her off.

Lavi couldn't be more proud that Kanda managed to fall directly onto her like a scene from a shoujo manga. Kanda, in his defense, was trying to hold off the combined weight of Allen and Lavi with his arms pushing against the floor, so that the girl could actually breathe. Neither of them was actually thinking of the romantic thoughts that were fleeting through Lavi's head because the heavy weights on them were too uncomfortable to think of anything else than to push them off.

"Usagi, get the fuck off moyashi!" He growled low, promising death.

"Yeah, Lavi, you're kind of heavy and you're crushing my stomach…" Allen tried to swat the older male off but the red head merely pushed them all down in response and they all groaned under the extra pressure.

"Kanda," Reiichi was squirming beneath him. "There's something _hard _poking me on my thigh and it's kind of painful…"

It was as if the magic words that Lavi wanted to hear to get off them because within seconds he had flung Allen rather ungracefully into a corner and hauled Kanda up, gripping the collar of the model's shirt tightly to stare at him in the eye.

"Yuu… you…you're not…" Lavi stammered over a few words before looking down at Kanda's pants.

It was then that the rest of the occupants in the room realized what Lavi was insinuating. Allen started to blanch and cough loudly; Reiichi opted to cover her horrified expression with her hands. Her cousin could say the most stupid things at times…

Kanda ripped Lavi's hands off his collar roughly, digging into his pocket to shove his phone into the other's face, hard.

"You fucking idiot,"

* * *

**Owari.**

The design for _Jealousy _is actually based on this particular top that Jaejoong (a singer from then DBSK and now JYJ) wore sometime before. I was saying something the temptation of throwing an ice cube into the hole and it became into a conversation about slapping wet cold hands on his bare back…

Thank you readers for sticking with me for 14 chapters! This is the longest piece of fiction I've wrote so far and I'm glad it's continuing. Another milestone for me would be reaching 100 reviews which should be soon, I think :D

To celebrate, the 100th reviewer can request any scene for the fic in the review. As long as it's not out of my original plot or out of character, I'll try to fit it in. But if I am unable to fit it in somewhere, I'll write it as a little omake.

Personally I am hoping for someone to request LaviYuu (nothing explicit of course, just that they do questionable things together), so that I can laugh at them. Heh.

Just a little note, I'm leaving for Japan for about a week so the next update would take a longer than usual.


	15. X'mas Special

A/N: Thank you for all your feedback! I've got range of people saying the story is too slow while others say its fine. Personally, it seems kind of slow (haha) but there's no helping it because of the way I write. Some of you also mentioned about more romance? I understand your desire, because I am also trying to push them without Kanda being out of character. I've strangled him a million times cursing his social retardness already. I honestly cannot see Kanda (as he is now) doing anything remotely romantic…

Anyway I've just returned from a trip to Japan. It's such a shame that I didn't find much anime related stuff because I was on tour, but I did buy a huge Totoro :D

I had a lot of time on the bus rides to think up this little chapter so humor me as I need to get it out of my head. I did wonder if it was better to wait for the end of the fic and using it as a little aftermath but that might take ages.

Because the current _Imitation Black_ chapters are in the month of July (somewhere there) and Kanda and Rei get together in about August or September, so **the context for this chapter is in their third month of dating**. Please remember it because the way they act towards each other is a little different thus I don't consider it out of character. (I'm so OCD about this, yes.)

Yeah I've rambled so let's begin!

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

_*~Christmas Special~*_

Lavi hopped out of the vehicle, slamming the front door shut as he whistled to a nonsensical tune. It was the 24th of December and he was extremely excited for Christmas. Half of the reason was because he successfully managed to get Kanda and Reiichi along for this snowboarding trip, and the other half was because he just bought a new camera and he couldn't wait to test it out on his unsuspecting victims.

It was ridiculous but ever since Kanda and Reiichi officially admitted that they were more than friends (actually it was just their absence of denial) he hadn't actually caught them doing anything couple-like. He never saw them hold hands or go on dates. The first and last time they went out for a date (to his knowledge at least) was because he practically bribed Reiichi with an all day expenses paid trip for them to the amusement park, knowing that she would think that it was too much of a waste of money to pass it up.

Even then, they were walking side by side with 30 cm apart. After all the effort that he had put in! (Lavi was sobbing mentally now) Those two were the most infuriating people ever.

But this time was going to be different. Today was Christmas Eve and Christmas was when magic happened. He brought along the tools of trade: a few mistletoes and his new camera for evidence. (He had a bet on-going with Allen and he was NOT going to lose.) Okay fine, he didn't really plan anything but he was Lavi and he was going to get what he wanted, dammit.

And so he cheerily flung the front door of Kanda's house open with a key he stole from Reiichi because Kanda refused to give him any, and announced his obnoxious presence in the only way he knew how.

"I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READY I'M READ-DOOMPH-"

Something heavy smacked him in his face and he caught it reflexively, shutting up. He spied Reiichi's cute annoyed expression as he lowered the baggage she threw at him on the floor. She was decked out in winter wear – a beige furry winter coat over a black turtle neck, brown skirt and heat tech tights. Plus she was clutching a fluffy wolly hat and he couldn't help but think she was the most adorable thing he had seen. He was across the room in a second to hug her.

"Rei-chan~" he squeezed her tightly. "Good morning~!"

"Morning," Reiichi half yawned as she absent mindedly let him hug her.

She had stayed up late last night to do some last minute packing and plus it was winter, and winter made her want to hibernate. In fact, she would have just spent the day at home lazing about and watching movies if Lavi did not book this trip for them all. But since she was a small adrenaline junkie, snowboarding was one of the sports she had enjoyed thoroughly the last time she went with him.

The door next to them slammed open roughly with a loud bang and the person responsible for it was glaring at Lavi with so much hate that Reiichi could feel heat emanating from his eyes. Kanda scrutinized Lavi's idiotic happy expression with Reiichi in his arms and Reiichi's helpless I-didn't-do-anything face. Kanda stalked past them not before whacking the photographer's head and grabbing the car keys from his hands.

"I'm driving," he stated firmly.

Lavi was not listening. The model was in a black fur coat, black tight jeans, white scarf and his beloved Dior sunglasses in the pocket. His hair in particular, was tucked in the back of his coat, leaving a small puffy crease of his hair where it disappeared into the coat. It was so cute. Hence he attacked the other male when Kanda was lugging out his luggage from his room, savouring the angry roar that came from the model.

"GET OFF ME- URK!"

Reiichi snorted in amusement and opted to bring her packed things out before the two most important people in her life decided to burn the house down with their squabbling.

* * *

"Well, whatcha' think?" The male red head was grinning so hard that his face might have split. "Awesome no?"

Kanda and Reiichi on the other hand, had similar expressions on their faces. They looked positively suicidal and horrified beyond words. That was because the vehicle that was going to bring them to Nagano was _neon bright pink_ in colour with _neon green stripes_.

"Urghh my eyes," Reiichi moaned.

That was the last time he'd let Lavi plan anything, Kanda decided. Why couldn't the photographer do something normal for once? Like renting a car that could hold their snowboards and luggage that had a safe colour like black. Or silver. Or blue. Anything but that… abomination.

Kanda threw the car keys back at Lavi. "I am not driving that… thing,"

"Of course you're not," Lavi replied back smugly.

It was only when Kanda and Reiichi slid into the back seat because the front passenger seat contained Lavi's baggage that they realized the entire thing was planned. Lavi knew Kanda would never be caught dead driving a car like what they were in. They groaned simultaneously. The photographer shot them a thumbs up and revved the engine.

"Usagi, what the fuck are you pulling?" Kanda squinted suspiciously at him.

"Nothing," the person in question sang innocently, but swerved violently out of Kanda's complex.

The motion caused the model to be flung across the seats and he slammed into Reiichi unto the other side of the car, plastering her beneath him. He was only a few centimeters apart from her face, and she was blinking in shock back at him. Her lips were pale from the cold, and he could smell the scent of the lip gloss she was using. Just a little closer, and he could…

"Children, remember to put on your seat belts," the driver chimed, ruining the good moment.

"Che," Kanda pulled back to the other side, strapping the seat belt on and looking determinedly out the window. Reiichi did the same, only with her blush more evident across her pale cheeks.

Lavi snickered through the front rear mirror at their flustered states. So they_ did_ actually like each other. Well, one check point down.

"Sooooo…." He started off conversationally. "How's Mikado-kun, Rei-chan?"

Reiichi banged her head against the window. "I don't know a "Mikado", Lavi," she sighed exasperatedly.

"I met up with him yesterday," her cousin continued on, ignoring her protest. "Nice guy, I think. You sure picked a good boyfriend." Lavi glanced through the mirror. "He even has that kind of cropped hair you like. Pretty eyes too. But it's a little light, so he's probably a half? Come to think of it, he could be a model- ack! Ca-nn't b-rea-tth-e.."

Kanda was strangling Lavi from the back and the car nearly went into the opposing lane. Lavi pouted and rubbed his sore neck.

"Shut the fuck up," Kanda glared harshly.

"Seems like you're _jealous_, aren't you?" Lavi sing songed. "While Rei-chan is out frolicking with Mikado-_kun-"_

"Lavi," Reiichi cut in, not pleased.

"What? It's not like you're dating Yuu-chan," Lavi sniffed.

Reiichi sighed tiresomely at the irony of his statement. Oh, but she _was_ dating Kanda. She didn't get it. A few months back Lavi was all "Kanchi (Kanda + Reiichi) Love Operation" and now he was in protective older brother mode. She shared a look with Kanda but neither of them bothered to correct Lavi's statement.

Lavi pouted harder at their lack of protest.

"It's not my fault you two don't act anything like a couple!" He whined from the front.

"What we do has absolutely nothing to do with you," Kanda replied, annoyed.

"Of course it does!" The driver was adamant. "How old will I be before I get to see cute little Yuu-chan's and Rei-chan's running around huh? I want to be an uncle!"

Reiichi blushed hard at the implication. Children? Children meant marriage, and… physical intimacy. Extremely, extremely close intimacy. No, it was too soon for that. She dared a glance at her other half and she could tell the same thing was running through his head at his uncomfortable expression. An awkward silence reigned as neither of them wanted to respond to Lavi.

The male redhead raised an eyebrow. Both of them were so innocent it was terrifying. Both were so inexperienced in relationships that anything that he said that implied _sex _made Reiichi turn close to a tomato or anything related to _love_ gave a spluttering in denial Kanda. He shook his head.

"How far have you guys gone anyway?" He asked with a total disregard for their embarrassment. "Don't tell me you haven't even held hands,"

The dark blushes on both their faces told him the answer. Good. "First base?" Kanda was glaring at him like he wanted to rip out his intestines and strangle him with it. "Yuu should have no problems with that so that's a yes," Lavi answered his own question. He knew Kanda considered it a harder feat to hold hands with a girl then to kiss her because his friend was just weird like that.

"Second base?"

"Lavi!" Reiichi hissed, mortified.

"I'm betting on a maybe for that," her cousin continued on. "How about third base? I know you guys haven't reached the forth base yet."

Reiichi opted to stick her fingers in her ears before her mind became more polluted. She could remember his faint scent of sandalwood as he pulled her closer till she could fit her face in the crook of his neck, his breath ghosting past her ear and past her jaw line before claiming a kiss…

She shook her mind clear and bit her lip hard. Stupid cousin. "I hate you,"

"Okay okay," Lavi soothed. "I'll stop prying."

The simultaneous sighs of relief were audible.

"For now."

* * *

It was a long 5 hour trip ride to the snowy mountains of Nagano where Lavi booked their stay. It wasn't the first time they had been there – he and Kanda knew the resort owner personally and he had brought Reiichi there a few times in the past. It was a good place because he managed to secure the biggest room (and most expensive) for them so they could all bunk together for sort of like a sleep over. Actually he just didn't want Kanda to sleep alone because he would have been definitely be rooming with Reiichi (as if boyfriend status was over cousin status, hah, take that Yuu-chan!)

Moreover the place was quite exclusive, so there were less people in the slopes and hence less chances of Kanda being attacked by rabid fangirls. The last time both of them went to a public ski resort, the model found his room broken into and his things stolen. He was also mobbed whilst going down the slopes and that resulted in a disaster. Needless to say Kanda never wanted to step into a public resort ever in his life.

There was still about 2 hours more of driving and Lavi was starting to get bored. After his teasing the awkward tension did not really resolve and he was slightly afraid he had pushed them too fast. Reiichi had just solved her big headache of awkwardness with Kanda recently and he sincerely did not want to go through another round of complex emotions that she couldn't handle. It was frustrating but he couldn't do anything about it during that time.

For now it was peace and quiet. Both of them were dozing off in their corners. Then he looked closer at them. Something was very wrong with the picture. The supposed couple were sitting at opposite ends of the seat. This was what he meant by the lack of PDA from them both. He stopped the car at the next petrol station he saw and got out of the driver's seat.

He gently pried the door open from Reiichi's side because he knew she was a heavier sleeper, and was relieved when the seat belt prevented her from falling out of the car. He was going to unbuckle her seat belt when he saw that their hands were entwined together in the middle of the seat. He blinked, unsure whether he was wishing so hard that he was dreaming. When he pinched himself and it actually hurt, he did a little jig and whipped out his camera.

So they _did_ do lovey dovey stuff.

Check point number two.

Looks like Allen was going to lose his bet, Lavi grinned. For once. He gently let her seat belt lose and laid her head on Kanda's lap. Their hands remained clasped and Lavi was proud. He angled the camera for another shot. Anyway, Allen didn't have to know he was cheating.

After refilling the gas (yes, he did stop at the petrol station for a good reason) and buying a bottle of hot coffee from the vending machine for his caffeine fix, he started on the remaining distance left to the snow slopes. He glanced at the couple at the back every now and then, gleefully awaiting Kanda's reaction when he woke up.

* * *

Kanda blinked sleepily awake, removing his face from the cold window. His legs felt numb and he was about to move them when he realized there was a weight on it. Confused, he raised his right hand tending to wipe his face when he felt that it was clasped with someone else's hands.

Oh right, he was holding Rei's hand before he had slept.

And somehow Rei was sleeping peacefully on his lap. He used his left hand and brushed her hair behind her ear, letting a rare soft expression to grace his features. He couldn't explain it but Rei made him act weirdly. It wasn't that he disliked it but it was a tad bit different from his normal character. He suddenly noted that she was wearing a seat belt before but now she wasn't. So the culprit was only the other awake person in the vehicle…

Kanda looked up and saw Lavi's triumphant grin through the rear view mirror.

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it, Yuu-chan?" Lavi smiled.

"Shut up," Kanda mumbled, feeling heat rising to his face. It was not a pleasant feeling being caught red handed, especially when he did not want Lavi to see him like this.

"Did you initiate the hand holding?" Lavi asked. "It's a good thing."

"Shut up," the model repeated. He did not want to go through another round of what happened a few hours ago.

"No, seriously, Yuu," Lavi looked at him meaningfully. "I'm not teasing you."

"…"

"I'm worried, okay?" Lavi breathed deeply. "I don't want another round of Rei-chan freak out session number two. I'm sorry if I said too much,"

"I…" Kanda looked back out the window. "I just didn't want her to be scared of me… again."

Lavi nodded. "I'm just frustrated, you know?" and he was off rambling. "You don't do anything romantic with her! What if she's dissatisfied? When she looks at other couples getting close and not with you how does she feel? What if she breaks up with you-"

"Usagi," There was death laced in Kanda's voice. "It's not like I'm… not trying," he was struggling to speak. Damn Lavi, talking about emotions was like the second thing he hated most after the redhead himself. "She's not one of the… others…" he muttered, but since the car was deathly quiet except for the rumbling of tires, his voice rang loud and clear. "I won't… start anything until she's ready…"

That was when it dawned upon Lavi that his best friend really really really _really _cared about his cousin. So much that he was afraid to lose her. Lavi was flabbergasted, because while he knew Kanda did perhaps, love her, he didn't really know how much. Something had happened between them while living together all this while and he hadn't realized it all along.

Lavi was smiling so hard that it hurt.

"So, when are you going to pop the question?"

Kanda threw the tissue box stuffed at the back of the seat at him.

* * *

It was already late afternoon when Reiichi felt herself being shaken and she opened her eyes. The first thing that greeted her was the massive amount of white snow outside.

"We're going in," Kanda cocked his head towards the resort building, helping himself out of the car.

She got out on her side, shivering when the cold winter air penetrated her figure as she breathed in the air. She took a minute to marvel at the perfect blanket of snow around her before she unloaded her stuff and trudged after the other two into the lobby.

When she entered, the bright lights blinded her a little and she saw that the front was decorated with various festive lights and an impressive decorated fir tree. She spied Lavi at the desk presumably taking care of their lodging administrative stuff, so she took the opportunity to gaze at the pretty lights longer.

A hand clamped suddenly on her shoulder and she jumped. Turning around, a dashing familiar face was smiling brightly at her. Brown short messy hair, grey sparkly eyes and mega watt smile – this was Amano Shouta, the owner of the resort.

"Hey, good to see you again, Reiichi-chan," he shook her hand enthusiastically.

"Shouta-san!" She smiled back. "It's has been a while."

"Key," Kanda demanded, sticking his hand out at Shouta with a scowl, effectively cutting off any conversation that might have occurred between the two.

"Right," Shouta laughed sheepishly, depositing one of the two keys he was holding to the model and the other to her.

Once in possession of the item, Kanda stormed to the elevator and took the lift up, ignoring everyone else.

"Wow he's in a bad mood huh," Shouta commented mildly.

"He's just jealous," Lavi glomped Shouta from the back, scaring both of them.

"Jealous of what?" Shouta furrowed his eyebrows, then looked at Lavi.

It was like a baseball game. Shouta looked at Lavi who looked back at him who looked at Reiichi who looked back questioningly because she didn't get what the eye signals were, and Shouta looked back at the lift Kanda had just gone up to and back to her again.

"No way!" He shouted in surprise. "But Kanda's like… _that_ and he actually got together with…" he trailed off, speechless. "Wow."

"Yes way," Lavi beamed smugly, slapping his hand. "Pay up, pay up,"

It then dawned upon Reiichi that her relationship with Kanda was even more publicized then she thought.

"Not a chance," Shouta retorted. "I won't believe it till I see it-,"

"I have evidence," Lavi waved his camera triumphantly.

"-with my own eyes," Shouta finished. He turned to Reiichi seriously. "Are you really dating that guy?"

"Err…" She took at step back at the blunt question.

"See!" Shouta was already turning back towards Lavi before she had a chance to answer. "They're not!"

"Yes they are,"

"No they aren't,"

"Yes,"

"No,"

"Yes –you tell him Rei-chan!"

Both of them paused when there was no answer.

"Rei-chan?"

* * *

That idiot cousin of hers! And to think he had even made a bet with Shouta! She'd thought the bet with Allen and Lenalee were already over (she still didn't know about the on-going bet with Allen) but apparently not. She was still grumbling when she reached the hotel room door on the highest floor and let herself in.

It was styled in a Japanese setting, with tatami flooring and a low table was set up at a side. Kanda was already seated at the low table changed into a yukata, pouring out hot green tea. His eyes flickered to hers when she entered, but he made no move to help her carry her stuff in. What a real gentleman, she rolled her eyes. After successfully dumping it in one corner, she joined him at the table. He was still scowling, but he pushed a cup of tea towards her direction.

"Are you still sulking?" She peered at him from above the piping hot tea.

"I'm not sulking," he denied, downing the tea he was holding. "He was just being annoying,"

Reiichi smiled slightly. Oh yes, he was most definitely sulking. She cautiously reached across the table to cover his free hand and entwined it. It was a bold move on her part, because she rarely initiated anything. It wasn't like she didn't like it but it was still all new to her.

His hands were slightly rough from all the Kendo he loved to do, but she didn't mind. His hand was bigger than hers, and the reassuring grip that he returned made her heart beat faster, so much so that she could practically feel her heartbeat resonating in her head. She could feel the on-coming blush from just touching him, and stared determinedly at her now empty cup. She heard him set his cup down on the table and his fingers brushed across her cheek to trace her jawline, lifting her head up to meet his gaze.

The look in his eyes was intense, but she couldn't help but stare back. It seemed to convey his emotions towards her, deep and dark, and he was leaning in closer…

"Dinner's at 7!" The door of their room slammed open, letting in her cousin as he slumped at the front door dramatically. "Why did you guys leave me behind~~~" he whined, then stopped as he examined their faces. "Did I interrupt something?"

They both had jumped apart at the interruption, and now Reiichi was fumbling with the remote whilst Kanda continued to refill his cup.

"N-no," Damn her stuttering! "What are we eating?"

"Hot pot," Lavi replied, oblivious to the death glare Kanda was secretly shooting him. "You should get changed. Or would you like to soak in the onsen first?"

"I'll change," Reiichi sorted through the cabinets and found the yukata she was to wear. After all, she was feeling a bit hot in her winter garb seeing that the heater was on.

And no, it was definitely not because of Kanda.

* * *

There was a dilemma. (or so Lavi thinks)

Three futons were placed side by side, and it was time to sleep after they got bored of laughing at the variety shows on television. Lavi was hugging Reiichi tightly, pouting at Kanda.

"I wanna sleep with Rei-chan," he whined. "And I wanna sleep wth Yuu-chan too! But that means Yuu-chan can't sleep next to Rei-chan, oh his poor heart-"

Unfortunately Kanda didn't really care. "Whatever. I'll take the bed closest to the door."

"W-wait," Lavi looked imploringly at the model who was already lifting the covers. "You're not going to say anything?"

"Am I supposed to?" Kanda raised an eyebrow.

Reiichi broke out of Lavi's hold and went to the bed on the other side. "So I'll sleep here and you get to sleep between both of us. Problem solved," she concluded, sitting down on her futon.

"Rei-chan!"

"What?" She blinked. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Ye-no- Yes, but- urgh!" Lavi made some sort of a strangled sound. "Stupid couple," he muttered to himself before settling in.

* * *

Reiichi awoke in the middle of the night when she found herself pressed against the cold hard wall. She tried to peel herself off from it but that was something at her back pushing her further. Annoyed, she sat up with much effort and saw that her cousin had effectively rolled both of them against the wall, and he was still trying to roll in his sleep.

She poked him. "Lavi," she hissed, trying to wake him up with making too much noise or else Kanda would wake up as well.

Of course that proved futile because Lavi slept like a log. She tried to push him back to their original position but he was too heavy and he didn't budge. She huffed, irritated and stood up, going back to the bed, leaving him beside the wall. Now she was between Kanda and Lavi, but she placed a respectful distance between them before drifting off back to sleep.

In his best timing ever, Lavi rolled back in his sleep, this time towards her. Before she registered the implication of his rolling, she was plastered against Kanda, unceremoniously knocking her face against his and clutched her face, stifling the pained groan. Kanda shot awake, cursing, rubbing his forehead.

"What are you-" He was silenced when he felt an arm circle his back and pulled him even closer to her.

Reiichi struggled, trying to take Lavi's arms around them both. Kanda caught on their situation quickly, but it seemed like Lavi's death grip was not easing up. This was the reason why he hated sleeping with people. He was tired and he just wanted to have a good rest, which was unlikely now that Reiichi was pressed up to him so close that he could feel almost the entire front of her body. Which meant that his mind was heading fast towards the gutter.

"Sorry," Reiichi mumbled next to him.

"Just sleep," he replied, pressing his forehead against hers. "He'll die tomorrow."

Reiichi chuckled. He was so very warm, and this was probably the first time they were sleeping together (albeit forced). A faint blush arose when she considered the implication, but it wasn't very romantic when she had her cousin's weight on her back. Her hands were trapped between his chest and hers, and she gripped the edges of his yukata to wiggle into a more comfortable position.

"He's sleeping right?"

"Yeah," Kanda confirmed.

"Good," she wouldn't hear the end of it if Lavi awoke now.

Seizing the rare opportunity, she cautiously slid her arms around his neck slowly and hugged him, content to feel his body warmth deeper. It was a good thing that it was nighttime and she felt better knowing that it was more difficult to see the embarrassed smile that she was trying to hold back. She paused when Kanda didn't react to her.

"I'm sorry," she retracted her hold, afraid that he was offended. "I forgot that you don't really like this kind of stuff.."

Arms encircled her own back, tracing a faint pattern on her spine and she looked up in surprise."..No.." Kanda sucked in a deep breath. "I don't hate it..it's just.. a bit.." he trailed off, looking away from her.

"I know," she mumbled into his shoulder.

Her hands were trembling slightly even as she locked them around him. It was hard to believe that four months ago she would have jumped off a cliff after performing hara-kiri if she was this close to him, but now she was craving his touch. It made her dizzy just thinking about it.

"Every time I touch you I can't breathe," she confessed. "And my heart beats too fast and I can't think straight,"

Reiichi buried her face from his view. "Oh god that was so cheesy," she grimaced. "I want to die now,"

Kanda's deep throated chuckle near her ear made her blush even harder.

"I'm not going to say those words back to you, if that's what you're trying to make me do,"

She kicked him beneath the covers.

* * *

There was another dilemma the next day. (again, Lavi thinks)

It was like déjà vu, Reiichi thought, whenever she was with her cousin and Kanda. Yes she was being hugged by Lavi, and yes Lavi was pouting at Kanda again. This time it was how they were going to sit the ski lift up the slopes to snowboard down. Because the lifts could only take two at a time, Lavi was insistent that he wanted to sit with both of them.

"It's not like we're going up once you know," she commented amidst his whining.

"I'm sick of this," Kanda turned and made way towards the ski lifts. Lavi was wasting too much precious time.

However Lavi caught on the back of his jacket and refused to let him go. "Fuck, usagi! Stop being so god damn irritating, I'll kill you!"

Reiichi surveyed their situation. At this rate, they probably won't make it up the slopes for the next hour.

"You know what," she pushed Lavi off her. "I'll go up with Kanda, and you can _pretend _that you're sitting with the both of us," she grabbed Kanda's wrist and pulled him along firmly.

Kanda followed obediently, leaving Lavi staring jaw agape at his cousin.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" A voice beside him shook him out of his stupor. Shouta had pulled up beside him in his ski gear and nudged towards the couple in his ski sticks.

Yes it _was_, but…

Wait a minute. "So you admit you lost the bet!" He chirped.

"No, she's holding his wrist," Shouta rolled his eyes and grabbed Lavi's wrist. "Oh so now I'm gay with you,"

"No one can resist me, baby," the redhead winked at Shouta, snickering at cringe that passed Shouta's features at his flirting. "Come on, we're going to be left behind~~" he skipped after Kanda and Reiichi who were already at the base of the lifts.

"That's your own fault," Shouta sighed, but followed him.

There wasn't really anything he needed to do today anyway…

* * *

There were three different levels of difficulty for the slopes: Beginner, intermediate, and expert. Usually she and Lavi rode the intermediate, so she was staring after Kanda's back as he made way towards the expert slope. She wasn't really surprised that he was a good snowboarder (like Lenalee had said once, she stopped being surprised at being surprised) but it was ridiculous that the man had talent for everything. Except maybe people skills but then again he was getting somewhat better at it.

Kanda strapped his board on and pulled on his goggles, looking like a true professional with his shiny hair glinting in the sunlight. He was about to kick off when he realized she was just staring at him. Yes he knew he was good looking but that wasn't the reason they were here.

"Are you coming?"

"This is too scary," she shook her head. "I'm going for the intermediate slope,"

"Che, no," he pointed to her board. "Put it on,"

"Kanda…." She frowned.

"Hurry up," he returned impatiently. "Or I'll tell Lavi about your ex-crush-"

Reiichi scrambled to fit her feet onto the board. Dammit, since when did he learn to blackmail? Probably all the other times she had threatened him. It did seem like a good idea then to come clean with both their pasts. Not now.

She huffed. "Let's take the other slope first-"

"L." Kanda smirked. "I."

"Okay okay!" She pulled on her goggles. "Stop talking!"

"Rei-chan~!"

Both of them looked back to see Shouta and Lavi waving back at them. Reiichi would have waved back, but she felt herself being pulled down the slope by Kanda and she couldn't help but let out a short scream in shock.

They were going down extremely fast, seeing that it was much much steeper than she was used to. Kanda was gliding in front of her, paving a way for her to follow as she savoured the adrenaline rush that coursed through her veins. Soon they reached the bottom end and they swerved to a stop, Reiichi grinning happily as she pulled off her goggles.

"Let's go again!"

They made to go another round, but Lavi came crashing behind her sending them both sprawling unto Kanda.

Shouta pulled up beside them and sighed. "That was dangerous, Lavi," he chided as he all but shoved Lavi off and helped Reiichi up.

"Amano…" Kanda hissed dangerously, glaring at Shouta as he wiped snow off himself when he stood up.

"What?" Shouta looked back questioningly, then followed Kanda's gaze to his hand which was still on Reiichi's shoulder. "It's not like she's your _girlfriend_," he taunted playfully.

Kanda made no move to retort.

"Shouta-san," Reiichi stepped away from them. "Don't talk like I'm not here,"

Shouta whistled as the three males watch her make her own way towards the lifts. "The lady's angry,"

"Yuuuuu~" Lavi frowned. "Why didn't you say anything? Why can't you say a simple "You're wrong" or something, huh? Now Rei-chan thinks you don't care about her-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP," Kanda snapped, patience wearing thin. "Amano," he glared darkly. "Back off,"

Shouta held his hands up in surrender. "Woah, chill dude. I didn't even touch her,"

"And you," Kanda pointed to the other male. "Stop meddling,"

Kanda stalked off. It seemed like Lavi was watching people walk away from him a lot today. Nonetheless. Smiling lazily, he held out a palm towards the other when Kanda was a safe distance away.

"Five hundred bucks, thank you very much," Lavi grinned at the disgruntled expression on Shouta's face.

* * *

"Are you still angry?" Lavi slung an arm over her when he joined her at a bench after snow boarding the entire afternoon.

"No," she responded, but it was a little deflated. "It's not his fault. Even I can't say it either,"

Yes she was put off initially at Kanda's lack of affirmation. True, they never graced any of Lavi's taunts but this time it was different. It was more direct and it was basically challenging what he was to her. It would have been heartening (and embarrassing) if Kanda did react the way she hoped she would but when she thought about it, she couldn't bring herself to say it either.

She knew Lavi was laughing at her now. Three months of dating and they hadn't got around to getting used to being called girlfriend or boyfriend.

"It takes time. At least he admitted he cares about you," Lavi offered a smile. "And you know, he gets jealous easily,"

She smiled bashfully to herself. "Yeah I know,"

"How about you Rei-chan?" he was strapping off his board. "You could start by saying "yes" if I asked you if you were dating him,"

"It's... not that easy," she replied back, flustered.

"Okay let's practice," Lavi clapped his hands together cheerfully. "Do you love him?"

"What?" she was looking everywhere but at Lavi now. "That wasn't your question,"

"It is now," he looked at her, expression absent of any smile. He was being serious. "So?"

"Love… is kind of a strong word…" she started uncertainly. "I..don't know.. maybe?"

Lavi pulled her closer and whispered into her ear. "What happened to '_every time I touch you I can't breathe'_?"

Reiichi sat frozen, because she was very sure she said those words to Kanda the night before.

"'_My heart beats too fast_-'"

"Lavi!" Her face was bright red in colour and Lavi laughed, running away when he saw that she wanted to drown him alive. She was so cute whenever he teased her about Kanda but it also affirmed him that she really did like the model.

"'-_AND I CAN'T THINK STRAIGHT_!'" he shouted back at her, both of them playing a game of tag.

Reiichi scooped up the snow from the ground and hurled it at him, her accuracy being pretty sharp as she managed to splatter the snow in his face. Lavi hurled another back at her but she ducked and the sound of it splattering on someone else caused them both to turn around.

Kanda was glad he hadn't pulled off his goggles off yet as he watched snow sliding off his vision. He pulled it off, but was hit again with another snowball in his face.

"WHOOPS SORRY YUU-CHAN!," Lavi screamed not-so-innocently back at him.

"Die," Kanda had his board off his feet in seconds and made to chase him.

"'_IT'S NOT LIKE I'M NOT TRYING_-'" the usagi was waving enthusiastically back at him as his ears registered the familiar words. "_SHE'S NOT ONE OF THE OTHERS_-"

Reiichi glanced back at him and their eyes locked.

"-_I WON'T START ANYTHING UNTIL SHE'S READYYYY_!"

Kanda was about to say something to her when another snowball made him a target. Reiichi was also furiously wiping away snow off her face. Lavi shot them both a victory sign. They could sort it out later, Kanda supposed, as he watched Reiichi chase after her cousin.

There was a rabbit that needed to be skinned.

* * *

"Yuu, open the door," Lavi gestured to their door after their snowball match.

He got owned and he got owned hard because it was Kanda and Reiichi he was talking about. They were merciless and they practically buried him chin deep in snow. Luckily he had Shouta dig him out after.

"Don't you have the key?" Kanda frowned irritably from behind. "Whatever," he unlocked the door because he knew through experience that arguing with Lavi meant they would never enter the room and he was tired.

"Rei-chan, you go in first," Lavi gestured gallantly for a ladies first movement.

She would have, only that it was entirely too suspicious. So she decided to push him in first the moment Kanda opened the door, and she immediately knew the reason why.

There was mistletoe dangling above the door.

"Nice try," she remarked dryly, clapping her hands. "Now you can kiss Kanda to your heart's content,"

"Hell no," Kanda stormed into the room.

Lavi pouted. "Come on, Yuu-chan, you know you want me,"

"In your demented dreams," was the deadpan reply.

Reiichi pushed past Lavi to enter the room. "Remove it," she sighed.

Lavi was not going to give up. "Come on guys, it's Christmas! It's a traditional thing!"

He caught both of them rolling their eyes at him.

"I knew that in the morning when your screaming of 'Merry Christmas' out the window was what woke me up," Reiichi graced him with a reply."Anyway you are supposed to kiss him going by 'tradition'," she pointed at the other person who had effectively shut his ears from their conversation. "And since this 'tradition' isn't followed, it's not tradition anymore,"

Lavi blinked.

"So that mistletoe is just a decoration," she concluded.

Reiichi was too busy trying to take her boots off that she didn't see the glint that shone in her cousin's eye.

* * *

"I actually feel bad for him," Reiichi commented as she knocked on the toilet door for the twentieth time. "Kanda, we're going to eat dinner now," she shouted above the sound of running water. "You can stop being OCD,"

Lavi hooted with laughter. "Yeah, Yuu-chan, my germs are unwashable~"

The door slammed open and Kanda's face was dripping wet, no doubt from the past half an hour that he locked himself in trying to wash where Lavi had actually forcefully kissed him on the cheek. It wasn't the first time because he had suffered high school with the annoying guy, but it didn't make it any less disgusting. He wanted to retch just thinking about it.

Reiichi took a dry face towel off the hanger and moved to pat his face dry. Suddenly she stopped and both of them looked at the male redhead who was staring at them with wonder and fascination. Oh damn, she forgot he was still there.

"That was so… domestic…" he gaped, pointing at them in disbelief.

The worst part was that it looked natural enough to be an everyday occurrence. He was about to tease them about it but Kanda's hand found its way to cover his mouth and he was smashed against the opposite wall. His best friend gave him a meaningful look and cocked his head briefly to Reiichi who was twisting the towel in her hand, biting her lip and looking away from them both in general.

Oh, she was feeling awkward again.

Lavi nodded and Kanda released him. He cleared his throat.

"We're having sukiyaki~" he burst out suddenly, unable to take the silence. "Suki~ Yaki~ Suki~ Yaki~ Suki~ Yaki~" he was off chanting, skipping out of their door for them to follow.

Kanda made to move out their room, but a small tug on his sleeve held him back. Reiichi was decidedly looking down at her feet, a pink spread across her cheeks.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

The model gave a gruff nod of acknowledgement before they continued on their way.

"SUKI~ YAKI~" Lavi's voice was bouncing off the walls.

Both of them sighed.

* * *

All of them sat stuffed in their room from the food. Lavi and Reiichi were entertaining themselves with the television, and Kanda was…fiddling with the pot of green tea he had brewed. He didn't really like watching whatever the relatives were watching because in his humble opinion, the people on it were plain stupid. He was mildly irked at how easily the other two were laughing at the poorly cracked joke by the presenter.

He touched the rim of one cup and realized the tea was getting cold faster than it should. He glanced around. No sound except for the television and their laughter. The heater wasn't on. Reiichi was rubbing her legs unconsciously to generate heat and Lavi was hugging himself tightly.

Suddenly Lavi stood up when it was commercial break. He went over to the thermostat and poked at it curiously. "The heater isn't on!" was his brilliant deduction. Yeah, Kanda told you a paragraph ago.

"I'll go find Shouta," he announced, slipping on slippers and stepping out into the hallway. Before he closed the door, he pointed at them both. "No hanky panky while I'm gone, you hear?"

"Hm," was Reiichi's disinterested reply.

"Tch," Kanda held up a tea cup threateningly to hurl at him.

Lavi stuck a tongue out at him and left, the door closing shut with an ominous click behind it. It seemed like once the redhead was gone; there was a loud silence that only he could fill. On one side both of them were relived from his presence, on the other hand, they were alone together.

Alone.

Neither of them could believe it. They stared at the door, expecting it to open with an "AHA!" from Lavi. Minutes passed and nothing of the sort happened. It was unbelievable because although they were living together, ninety percent of their time was spent with Lavi who came over almost every single day announced or unannounced, and they saw him at _Innocence _headquarters.

Reiichi was rubbing her forearms now and it was getting colder in the thin yukata she was wearing.

"Come here," Kanda gestured to the space behind him with his head.

She paused, furrowing her eyebrows at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," he sighed impatiently. Was it really that hard to believe that he was doing this sort of thing?

Reiichi complied, settling in the space next to him. It was like he was radiating heat, her own personal heater, and she smiled at the warmth. She was surprised when an arm lay across her shoulder and pulled her closer, almost causing her to sit on him.

"Idiot, you're going to freeze," was his half-hearted chide.

Lavi was half torn between wrenching the door open or to continue watching from the small crack in the door. He danced a little on the spot to sort out his thoughts and his stalkerish tendencies won over. It was too bad that he left his camera on the table before he left. Cursing his bad luck, he squatted at the door way hoping for them to do something more.

"What are you doing?"

The photographer jumped from his ball at the doorway. Above him was Shouta looking skeptically at him. The resort owner had just fixed a heater problem for one of the other rooms and he came across a suspicious figure in the hall way.

"Shhh," he pulled the other man next to him and shoved his face towards the small crack. "What did I tell you?"

Shouta snorted. "They're sharing body warmth, big deal."

"Of course it's a big deal," Lavi insisted. "This is _Kanda Yuu_ we're talking about,"

The resort owner blinked. "…You're actually right," he added in surprise. "For once."

Lavi pouted. Just because he had a history of losing bets with people didn't mean he was wrong all the time. For some reason or another, both of the males sat at the door way peering into the crack. They were so engrossed in watching the couple (who actually weren't doing anything but huddling in front of the television) that they forgot about the time.

"Lavi's taking a long time…" Reiichi was saying.

"I hope he gets lost and never comes back," Kanda muttered.

Outside, Lavi sobbed whilst Shouta patted his back sympathetically.

"We should find him," Reiichi stated, and made to move towards the door.

Shouta and Lavi glanced at each other with panic. Where to hide? All the other rooms in the hallway were taken and the elevator had a clear view of their door. Which meant that if the lift did not come in time, they were both screwed. Luckily they were saved.

Kanda was holding her obi so that she couldn't move. "No," he pulled her back down. "I want to finish what we started,"

He was not going to waste this chance without the stupid photographer who had an untimely knack for interrupting things.

"But we didn't even start anything," Reiichi said with a touch of confusion.

She was so naive that it made his heart twinge.

"You really think so?" His voice went a notch lower, deep and husky. He was advancing closer and she was retreating unconsciously as much as she could, as his oriental face took up her vision. "You have no idea what you're doing to me, do you?,"

She shivered, licking her lips. His figure was imposing, and she suddenly remembered that this was _Kanda Yuu_, Japan's top model and probably, the sexiest man alive. She was pretty sure she was blushing the hardest she had in her entire life. It was only when her back hit the wall that she realized he had her cornered from all the way across the room.

His hands clamped on her shoulders, and he felt that she was shaking. Her pupils were dilated, lips parted in fear. Kanda was so very tempted to continue what he was intending, but in her current state….she didn't seem comfortable with it. He sighed mentally and backed off, deciding that a cold shower would be the better option.

He was shocked when Reiichi grabbed his wrist as he turned to move. Even her hands were trembling.

"I told you already," she mumbled. "I can't breathe when you do that,"

She was so crazy for him that it scared her. It was already three months since she admitted the fact but the feeling did not dwindle but instead grew stronger, if that was even possible.

"..and I can't think.." Reiichi gripped his hands. She wanted him to understand that it wasn't that she didn't want it but her body wasn't responding to her.

Kanda settled back down in his previous position and traced her jawline with a hand, cupping her cheek to look at him. He smiled humourlessly.

"I've also said this," a very faint blush was evident on his face upon hearing her words. "I'm not going to say that to you,"

He took the chance to finally meet his lips with hers, her eyes closing as she reveled at how even his lips warmed up hers. It was just a simple touch, but it was like electricity flowing through her veins. It was exhilarating yet terrifying at the same time. He was nibbling on her lower lip, seeking entrance into her mouth.

It wasn't the first time that he was French kissing her, but the feeling was new and indescribable every time. It felt like she was floating on air, and all she could do was to follow the pace that he set with his mouth. She was vaguely aware of his hand on her face that was trying to bring her closer, and the other, wrapped around her waist tracing her hip bone through the fabric. Hers were entangled in his raven hair, enjoying the silky smooth feeling as the tresses flowed through her fingers.

After what seemed like eternity, he pulled back, both of them breathing harshly from the lack of oxygen. He trailed a series of kisses down her jawline, reaching her neck and sucking on a particularly sensitive spot, eliciting a small moan that passed her lips. Reiichi wasn't even thinking anymore, mind totally blank and she couldn't help but receive whatever he was doing to her.

Kanda moved back to her lips, appreciating the dazed look on her face. There was a tell tale smirk on his face as he captured her lips for another round, this time even more dominating and passionate than the last.

They were so caught up in their moment that they were shaken out of it only when a bright flash blinded both of them. Lavi was on the floor clutching his camera with Shouta trying to restrain him by the legs.

Shouta face palmed. "Even if you wanted a picture you shouldn't have used flash…"

"I forgot to change the setting!" Lavi whined. "Come on, Yuu, do it again," he gestured toward them both and waited for another shot.

In his dreams.

"Lavi, you_ don't_ forget," Reiichi was clenching her fists, scowling as darkly as she could without her mortification.

He knew death when he saw it. "Uh, mistletoe?" he offered lamely, pointed to the ceiling above them. True to his word, there really was a mistletoe hanging up there.

"And how does that change anything?" Shouta raised an eyebrow.

"Shouta!" Lavi whined. "You're not helping!"

"Exactly," Shouta nodded, watching Lavi take off with both Kanda and Reiichi hot on his heels. He was still a little sour about losing the bet, but he guessed the entertainment this time was worth it.

* * *

_*~Merry Christmas~*_

**Owari.**

Just to clarify: Reiichi's more hesitant with physical touch (eg. Kissing) while Kanda's more awkward with touches that are emotionally expressive (eg. hugging or holding hands). I'm not saying kissing isn't emotional but you have Kanda's past history of girls he made out with whom he didn't really care for.

That was longer than I expected. Do I get cookies for typing all this in one sitting? That's about 10 hours of butt-on-chair.

Yes Lavi is annoying! HAHA I am trying to balance his "Kanchi" obsession and his protectiveness and thus while he does want to see them doing couple-y things he also can't really bear to see them actually doing it.

Some things vaguely mentioned like _Reiichi's freak out session_ will occur later in the fic. I'm typing this with the end in mind. I'm sorry if it spoils the flow of the fic because this is purely self indulgent. I also apologize in advance if their relationship isn't like that at the end of the actual fic. Writers will understand that sometimes the fic writes itself in the course of writing it.

I hope you enjoyed it anyway.

The 100th reviewer is **cherry-888**! The request had something to do with Matsumoto Junki but since I actually didn't plan anything for her after the kidnapping (bad plot planning on my part) I will fit the request in the fic itself. However the scene might only appear maybe five or more chapters later because Kanda and Rei have a lot of romantic feelings to grow…

Until the actual chapter 15, readers~


	16. Chapter 15

A/N: It's Boxing Day! I hope you guys had a great Christmas. So we're back to the original plot line. I hope you haven't forgotten where the actual plot line left off :D

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

It was Friday morning and Reiichi technically had a free day off because she was done with the _Jealousy_ shoot and she had no university obligations as of now. Lavi had told her to stay at home –she would still need some time to adjust to the fact that she was calling this huge place her home – and do whatever she wanted as he was not going to let up on the next theme.

She planned to sleep in, but it was her internal alarm clock from the past few weeks of getting up early to prevent her from facing Kanda's wrath towards being late shot her awake at 7 a.m sharp. After wasting as much time as she could lazing about, she resigned to the fact that she was not going to fall asleep anytime soon and went in search of breakfast in the kitchen.

Kanda was predictably at the table in his Kendo garb, munching on some light biscuits and a cup on green tea. He didn't bother to greet her or anything, and neither did she. It was a mutual understanding that they acquired after a few days of awkward breakfast sessions – I know you're there so there's no need to state the obvious.

Reiichi went to the fridge to pour herself a mug of cold chocolate milk, a carton she bought yesterday. It was still weird using his things, or rummaging through the cabinets for food sometimes, but Kanda didn't seem to mind it all much. She tried not to push his boundaries, since she was basically leeching off him, so she replaced things she used back in its original condition, or did light cleaning when he wasn't around. If Kanda noticed, he never commented.

But then again, Kanda didn't initiate heart to heart conversations with her, not that she was expecting any. The man was reading his newspaper coolly, as per his usual routine. Reiichi settled in the seat opposite his, and found another section of newspapers for her to pass the time.

The silence between them was thick, but neither seemed to mind it very much. Reiichi wasn't a morning person in general, and Kanda, well, he was used to quietness in the mornings (read: without Lavi).

As she sipped her milk, her eyes flickered to the very first article on the page. It was the entertainment section, she knew that much. But what caught her eye were three very familiar figures in a photo.

Her, Lavi and Kanda.

It was from the press review she had done a few days ago.

_Kuroshi Reiichi, 19, cousin to famed photographer Lavi Bookman, is the designer of the current spread of top model Kanda Yuu in Mugen. With her red hair and green eyes, it is unmistakable to miss that her connections with Bookman run deep._

What?

_The seven deadly sins project from the trio has certainly whipped up a small storm in the fashion industry, eliciting mixed reviews. Kuroshi's somewhat crude presentation of Lust started off a cult trend of her version of jeans, nevertheless, some designers have called it unpolished and unfit for the audience of Mugen. Her interpretation of Gluttony, however, has impressed numerous seamstresses on her eye for details. _

_The most recent set of Jealousy, unfortunately, did not awe critics as Kuroshi might have intended. Indeed her versatility has been proven within the three pieces, but her incapability to construct a set for the latest theme proves a lack of planning on her part._

_While the project started out with ambitious intentions, sadly, it has failed to meet up to its hype-_

Reiichi couldn't read on. She downed her milk in one gulp and rinsed it in the sink, almost setting it violently on the rack. Kanda sensed the sudden change in the air, and he looked at her, curious. She ignored him and went back to her room, taking careful precautions not to slam the door in her rising frustration and anger.

Once she was out of sight, Kanda picked up the paper she was reading and mildly frowned at the headline. It was the entertainment section, nearly a tabloid, which was full of bullshit in his opinion. His eyes scanned over the few paragraphs she was reading a while ago quietly, and then looked back at her shut door.

He knew how it felt like for people to criticize his work even though he had given all his effort. It wasn't easy for even him, being kind of detached from what people thought of him, and he acknowledged it was probably even harder for her, being a sensitive girl and all.

Kanda wrinkled his nose upon the thought. What was he thinking?

She had to get used to it, in this harsh industry if she really wanted to be credited. He hoped she wasn't crying now or anything pathetic like that, because this was just the beginning of the icing of the cake she was getting herself in.

But he couldn't really explain it when he looked towards her door for the final time before leaving for _Innocence_ headquarters.

No, he wasn't worrying. That was Lavi's job.

* * *

After a short meeting with Komui in the morning, Kanda was half annoyed to find himself absolutely free for the rest of the day. Granted it was his fault that he didn't bother to remember his schedule – since Lavi memorized everything for them – and now he felt cheated that all he had to do was to listen to Komui whine about his darling sister, even if the meeting had nothing to do with Lenalee. He should have just skipped the darned meeting, but it was too late to regret it.

Lavi patted his back apologetically, since the photographer had to go back to his actual home for some Bookman related business and thus could not accompany him for the day, not that Kanda wanted him to.

"Go cheer up Rei-chan alright?" The redhead gave him a thumbs up before waving as he drove off the compound.

Of course Lavi knew everything, especially when it had to do with his cousin. Kanda had witnessed the hour long phone conversation Lavi was having with Reiichi in his attempt to cheer her up but it became more into a bicker halfway through. He also saw the gleam in his friend's eye when he dialed another number to track whoever the reporter was who wrote that article.

He knew Lavi was overprotective, but sometimes he overdid it. It wasn't good to shelter the girl all her life, because she needed independence to grow. But he wasn't one to pry to other people business, so he watched impassively.

On a totally unrelated note, Kanda had no idea why he was sort of following Lavi's suggestion, because he found himself back at home. Then again, it was never his intention to comfort her or whatever funny thing Lavi might have imagined, so he shrugged and entered his abode.

He swung the door open and hit something, for it didn't budge further then he pushed and there was a loud thump and groan from the floor. Stepping in, he saw that Reiichi was sprawled on the ground, rubbing her back. A huge cardboard box lay upturned beside her and pieces of clothing were scattered all around her.

Kanda didn't think to apologize, but instead pointed at her. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Reiichi glared, irritated at his usual behavior. "I decided to be acquainted with your floor," she retorted back sarcastically. "It says it hates you,"

"Are you on drugs?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes," she replied deadpanned.

This was the reason why Lavi didn't like to try sarcasm on her because she took the fun out of everything. She uprighted her box and collected her things around her, folding the clothes neatly back into the box. Kanda stepped past her disinterestedly, but stopped before he reached his own door.

Wait a minute.

He glanced back to her.

She didn't look depressed or sad or suicidal like Lavi made it out to be. Of course, he should have known his friend loved to blow things out of proportion. He 'tched', turning away from her but was halted yet again.

"Kanda?" she was still sitting on the floor, twiddling her thumbs, but her things were packed.

"What?"

"Are you free today?"

That question made him back up a little. "What do you want?" he asked, suspicious.

"Can you drive me somewhere?"

His answer was quick. "No. What the hell do you think I am?" He frowned. "Your personal chauffeur?"

"It's just a small favour," she irked.

"Take a taxi,"

"Come on," she was on the verge of begging.

Normally she would have hailed a cab, but she saw this as a great opportunity. She was going to visit her orphanage, and orphanage meant children. Which brought her back to her on-going bet with Lavi. It was a chance to finally get him off his constant teasing of her and Kanda which were beginning to get old.

"Please?" she was already pleading. When she saw that he wasn't relenting, she tried to mimic her cousin. "Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please-"

"God," he snapped. "Stop being like your irritating cousin,"

"I'll… wash your car," she offered. "And we can eat soba for the whole of next week,"

Really, was this the best she could do? Kanda leaned against his doorframe, amused. "No deal woman,"

Reiichi scowled, she wasn't going to stoop that low to say that she'd do anything for him. So she tried a different tactic.

"I want you to be there. With me," she cringed inwardly at how misleading it was sounding. Technically it was true, because she need him there for evidence to win her bet.

Kanda blanched, obviously not expecting the suggestive implication of her words. While he was used to other girls declaring their so called dying love for him, anything remotely adoring from Reiichi made his skin crawl. He knew she didn't have a single interest in him, so what the heck was she doing?

"And where are you going?" he decided to ignore her attempt and change to a safer topic.

"My orphanage," she replied back in her normal tone.

"Not interested," he turned away, but Reiichi was up in a second and she caught his arm.

"Okay okay," she glared at him. "I'll do whatever you want, you stubborn prick. So drive me there already."

"Is that anyway to address someone you're asking a favour from?" Kanda smirked, sauntering to the table to pick up his keys.

"It's not a favour anymore," she sulked. "It's selling my soul,"

He shrugged. "Same difference,"

Reiichi was so tempted to strangle him. He was being difficult as always. And now she sounded so desperate, it was sickening to her own ears. Kanda better be horrible with children, she grimly clenched her fists. Or else all this effort was going down the drain. She picked up her box and wandered out to the garage whereupon Kanda was already heading toward his car of choice.

It was the red Enzo Ferrari which was maybe his most expensive car, having only 400 in the world. Hell, the man was rich. Too rich. The car was gleaming in the sunlight, a perfect complement to the model who was standing beside it.

He was wearing Evisu jeans and a Ralph Lauren polo, crystal studded Dior sunglasses was the piece that captured the attention. He was wearing his hair in a pony tail at his nape. On his neck was a choker, and on his fingers were three rings- wait, was that a couple ring she was seeing? Nah, can't be. She turned her attention back to his feet that adorned Fred Perry white sneakers.

Well, she had to admit he knew how to dress well. Then she realized she was staring at him for the past minute or so and her head snapped up to meet his smirk.

"Whatever it is, I'm not listening," she said, embarrassed at being caught.

Reiichi hurried into the two seater vehicle when he got in and revved the engine. She marveled at the leather seats and the fact that she was sitting in something that was entirely out of her league.

"Why did you have to chose this flashy car?" she was already imagining how her caretakers from the orphanage would faint when they saw them.

"I drive, I decide," was Kanda's snappish answer.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Reiichi realised she hadn't told him the address, yet Kanda seemed to know where he was heading. To her knowledge he had never visited the orphanage with Lavi. She glanced at him, and he seemed like he was happy- no, not happy, but at least content, driving his car so she let him be.

Hopefully he really did know where he was going.

* * *

As it turned out, Kanda did know where her orphanage was. He parked the car in the small makeshift carpark in front of the building, a stark contrast to the other rusty cars beside it. Reiichi cringed at the blatant difference.

Two figures had come out of the building upon hearing the car noise as they turned in. One was a pregnant lady, who looked to be in her early 30s, with short brown hair that framed her delicate face. Next to her was presumably her husband, with his hand wrapped protectively around the other. His eyes were kind and twinkling, and his smile widened when he spotted Reiichi clamber out the foreign car.

"Rei-chan!"

Reiichi grinned upon seeing the couple at the entrance. She ran up to them as fast as she could, dropping the box on the floor as she launched a hug towards the man. Both of them laughed, delighted.

"Kazuki nii-san! How have you been?"

But before he could answer, Reiichi was already turning toward his wife. "And Misaki nee-san! You've gotten so big!"

Misaki chuckled, pulling the girl into a hug as much as she could with her belly. "It's good to see you too, Rei-chan,"

Kanda lingered at his car, feeling awkward at the happy reunion. He intended to wait out for whatever Rei wanted to do in her orphanage, but that was dashed when Kazuki turned to him, shock registering in his features. It wasn't long before Misaki caught the direction her husband was staring at and she put on a similar expression.

"Is that…"

"No, it can't be.."

"Kanda-"

"-Yuu,"

The couple laughed. "Nah, there's no way Kanda Yuu would be here," Kazuki turned to his wife, chuckling.

"Of course not," Misaki laughed in agreement.

Reiichi face palmed. She didn't think it was that a big deal of a case of Kanda Yuu, but apparently everyone else thought so.

"Kanda!" she waved him over and surprisingly he obliged.

"Kanda, this is Kimura Kazuki, the director of the orphanage," she introduced, slightly amused at how round their eyes were getting. "This is his wife, Azuki Misaki,"

"And yes," Reiichi had to affirm them. "This is Kanda Yuu,"

Kanda bowed slightly in greeting, and they returned the bow, not because they actually knew what they were doing but it was a reflex of Japanese custom greeting. Kanda could tell they were still in denial of him actually existing in front of them, and it was so comical that he wanted to laugh. It was ridiculous how everyone elevated him to a god-like status, not that his ego really minded.

Well, everyone except a few people.

Reiichi turned to him and frowned. "I don't get it. What's so great about you?"

* * *

Kanda grunted. Really, why was he here?

He was in the reception room. He surveyed his surroundings. Decent furniture for an orphanage, he noted. But he could tell the walls were peeling and the lights were old. The room was also fairly large, and he noted that it was actually expanded once. Reiichi was next to him, having a little chat with people in her past.

Nothing to do with him.

"The older ones are still in school," Misaki was saying to Reiichi.

"Then can I trouble you to pass their clothes to them? I'll do the fitting for the younger ones today,"

"Of course, it's no trouble at all," the woman smiled warmly back at her. "It's a favour you're doing for us, Rei-chan, not the other way around,"

"I'm sorry to cut in but I have to leave for a while," Kazuki cut in, hands clasped together in apology. "Don't strain yourself too hard, Misa-chan," he turned to kiss his wife, oblivious to how uncomfortable Kanda and Reiichi were at the action.

"Be careful," Misaki waved lovingly as her husband grinned back shyly before attending to his business.

They were such a cute couple, Reiichi thought. All her years in the orphanage she never heard or saw them fight, and it was always light flirting and touching between the two, even before they got married. Well, and now they were expecting their first child.

There was a small wail that came from one of the rooms in the orphanage and Misaki stood up to check it out.

"Rei-chan, I'll leave you to do what you want," she smiled. "Kanda-san, you can explore the place if you like. Don't stand on ceremony, if you need anything feel free to ask Rei-chan for it,"

"Misaki nee-chan!" Reichi huffed indignantly.

Her caretaker giggled at her expense, waving a short hand as she left the room.

"Come on," Reiichi nudged towards the door way.

Kanda followed her through the hallway, silently examining the inside of the building. There were quite a few rooms, and he supposed the bed rooms were upstairs. Finally they came upon a door to which Reiichi stopped at. She turned the knob awkwardly, trying to balance her box, and succeeded after a few tries.

Once she stepped in, Kanda registered small blobs dashing forwards toward them.

"Rei-nee! Rei-nee!" They were excited.

Reiichi knelt, putting her box down, smiling as she took one up in her arms. "I've brought someone with me today," she gestured towards the person behind her. "He's Kanda. Treat him nice, okay?"

"Okay," was the chorus.

Their curious eyes lingered on him, and he felt uncomfortable when so many pairs of eyes looked like they were eager to latch onto him.

"I've brought what I promised the last time," Reiichi announced, and almost immediately their attention swopped back to her.

Kanda sat on the couch at the side of the room as Reiichi did her thing. The mass of children were queuing up in front of her, mostly the girls were more enthusiastic, as she measured clothing from her box that she brought against them. So she sewed clothes for the children. He wasn't sure when she found the time to do all that, especially since she was struggling for time when she was in the Black Academy.

There was a tug on the bottom of his jeans and he looked down. A small kid was sticking out his arms at him, demanding to be carried.

"Kan-nii!"

Kan-nii? Kani? He was being reduced to a crab?

"No, kid," Kanda scowled, shifting away from the small child. It was a bad move, since children were unpredictable, and Kanda saw that the boy was already forming signs of crying. He sighed irritably. He didn't really like children. Yes he was once a kid like them, but still, he didn't like them at all. He reached down and picked the kid up, placing him on the empty pace next to him.

Kanda watched as the child lumbered over him, stepping on his lap to touch his face. He jerked away from the touch, but the boy continued to clamber on him. "Stop it," he hissed, but his threat went ignored. The boy tugged on his hair that wasn't tied up, eliciting a grimace from the model. Yeah, he really didn't like children.

Luckily the boy was light, so he picked him up against and held him at a distance. The child blinked back innocently at him. When he moved to put him back on the floor, the child's face scrunched up, almost going to cry again. Kanda was half tempted to wrangle the boy's neck. Finally he placed the kid at his side, and for some reason the kid made himself comfortable and yawned, using his lap as a pillow.

At least the child wasn't crying. There was another tug on his leg and this time it was a little girl with long wavy hair and big eyes pouting at him.

"Fuck, no," he cursed loudly.

"Kanda!" Reiichi glared at him, horrified. "There are children here!"

"Then you take care of them," he said angrily, pointing the little girl.

The girl's face contorted into a frown, and the start of a wail came from her mouth.

"Pick up her!" Reiichi commanded. "If she starts crying the rest of them will too!"

That was enough to get him to listen to her. He sat the girl on his lap, pinching the bridge of his nose as he did so. He was so going to get back at Reiichi for this. He still had no idea why she wanted to bring him along in the first place – the cheesy line she said earlier passed through his mind for a second and he shivered in disgust – but he had it pointed down to 'let's see Kanda suffer' or something. Reiichi resumed her activities, leaving Kanda to stare at the girl.

Then he felt another pull on his pants.

* * *

"Tea break," Misaki sang, opening the door of the room they were in.

Just in time, for Reiichi had packed the clothing back into the box to hand it over. The children filed out of the room obediently after Misaki after chorusing a thank you to her, and she suddenly remembered that Kanda was with her. She had been too engrossed in entertaining the children that she forgot all about him.

She glanced around and found Kanda was sleeping on the couch, slumped at one corner, head leaning against the fabric. On him were at least four children, one snuggled beneath his arm, another, on his lap, and two more somewhere in between them all. He looked peaceful, and so did the little kids on him, judging by the contented smiles on their faces.

Reiichi stared, not knowing what to do. Wake the children up? Or wake Kanda up?

It was such a heartwarming picture that she didn't want to break it.

Woah, wait. Rewind. Heartwarming picture? She scrutinized them harder, and was disgruntled to admit that it was pretty cute. Before she knew it, her hands were whipping out her phone and she took a picture of the scene, intending it to send it to Lavi for him to coo over.

Cute.

Cute.

Cute.

_Anyway didn't you say you'd marry a guy who was cute with children?_

Oh hell no. She forgot about the main reason why she brought him here.

She crouched down, horrified at her new situation. She peered at her phone and saw that she was one button away from sending the picture to her cousin so she snapped shut her phone in time. This was getting stupid. Yes she liked cute things, but Kanda?

No. Not cute. Not cute.

Arghh, who was she kidding, it was the most adorable thing ever, even cuter then when he was modeling her _Gluttony _piece.

"Rei-chan?"

At the voice she jumped guilty. She sighed in relief when it was just Misaki. The other woman came to sit beside her, facing Kanda and the children on him. Reiichi furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at her actions.

"He's quite cute, isn't he?" Misaki commented lightly, causing Reiichi to burn in embarrassment.

No, she totally did not just read her inner conflict.

"Of course, he's _Kanda Yuu_," she continued, then turned to her suddenly, eyes sparkling. "This is your chance, Rei-chan!"

"W-what?"

"I heard he's single," she plowed on. "And he cares for you,"

Reiichi coughed, choking in disbelief. "Where did you get that?" she asked, flabbergasted.

"It's the way he looks at you,"

"The only way he looks at me is either a glare or a smirk, Misaki nee-san," she replied dryly.

"I've never told you how Kazu-kun and I got together, have I?" Misaki ignored her. "I hated him," Misaki muttered.

Reiichi stared at her a while for the sudden change in topic. "…But you're so… lovey dovey with him now-"

"Well back then, I hated him," she declared, remembering her emotions back then. "He was perfect, you know, he could do everything. Always the top in class, he volunteered at the local hospital, and somehow he was the captain of the soccer team-"

"-I was just a scholarship student. Only knew how to study," she chuckled. "It was so unfair that he excelled in everything I did and so much more. So I hated him,"

Reiichi nodded understandingly. "So he wooed you and you changed your mind?"

"On the contrary," Misaki snorted. "He bullied me. Ruined my homework. All while maintaining his so called "nice guy" façade,"

"Kazuki nii-san? Really?" Reiichi couldn't imagine how her caretaker would ever do something remotely mean. It was like he couldn't even bear to hurt a fly.

"Anyway, stuff happened," a blush arose across Misaki cheeks and Reiichi was wary to even pry. "And here we are now,"

"Main point is," she continued. "Kazu-kun told me the reason why he was being mean to me was because he didn't know how to treat someone he liked. And he," she pointed at the sleeping Kanda. "Looks at you a little like what Kazu-kun used to, at me,"

"I'm pretty sure you're imagining all that,"

Misaki was again not listening to her. The woman moved forward to wake the sleeping children off the model with ease, somehow managing to guide the sleepy kids out of the room without a sound. She winked at Reiichi as she left, leaving her and Kanda alone in the room.

Reiichi sighed. She had no idea what Misaki was trying to do, but she wouldn't dwell on it. Okay fine, she could admit lost the bet to Lavi this time, as she looked at the sleeping model one last time. It wasn't like Lavi's continued attempts of match making were going anywhere anyway. She could strike another bet regarding her love life the next time she supposed.

And she was definitely winning the next time around.

* * *

**Owari.**

Ack. After writing the X'mas special, my hands are twitching to make Kanda and Rei move along faster. But they're such stubborn people _sigh sigh sigh_

The reason why Misaki can say Kanda is looking at Rei in a certain way is because he's actually a little worried on how the article affected her but of course he's in denial about it. He's so cute. *pats Kanda*

Lavi's condition of the bet was that Kanda had just to be cute with children and not that whether Kanda actually knew how to handle any… so yes, Reiichi got played by her cousin.


	17. Chapter 16

A/N: It's nearly the new year~~~ Thank you for all those who reviewed, I love you all~~~

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

"I've considered Kanda," Reiichi admitted her defeat.

She was not one to lie, especially since it was impossible to lie to her cousin. But really, the grin on his face was getting her a little annoyed.

"And the answer is still no,"

Lavi pouted. "Why! Rei-chan~~" he whined, but Reiichi tuned him off, sipping her tea.

They were at a nearby café having breakfast on this lovely Saturday morning. Kanda had vehemently refused to join them, and she knew he was cooking up some punishment for her for yesterday's incident. She would enjoy her life as much as she could now.

Her cousin huffed. "Anyway since I won," he had a smug smirk on his face. "I will continue my match making attempts," he declared proudly. "And you will be attached to him, a month tops,"

She took a bite out of her pastry. "Uh-huh. That's of course when Allen tells me he's gay, meaning: Never,"

"How do you know moyashi-chan is _not_ actually gay?" Lavi countered.

"Come on," she did feel a little bad discussing her friend's preferences. "He totally likes Lenalee. I can tell."

"With Komui around? Not happening," her cousin munched on his own bread. "Anyway moyashi-chan is younger than her,"

"Age has no relevance in love,"

"Hey hey I'm not saying I'm a hater," Lavi wagged a finger at her. "Anyway don't you think that line is kind of cliché? I mean, age does have its relevance in love,"

"Think about it Rei-chan," he continued. "Age is usually correlated to maturity which is integral for understanding between two parties. And understanding is the basis of trust which is the founder of any relationship. Would you really date a younger guy?"

She mulled it over. True she would prefer someone older than her…

"And that's why Yuu is a year older than you!"

Reiichi resisted to spit out her tea. Trust her cousin to lead the conversation around…

"Don't you think he's so adorable?" Lavi was coo-ing at the picture she took, which was now his handphone wallpaper. There was no way to keep him away from her phone after she accidentally let slip about the picture. Ah well. Reiichi was just hoping Kanda will never see it in his life and beyond.

"So cute so cute so cute so cute-"

"You can fanboy him when you're alone," she cut him off, tired of the overwhelming _love_. It was already a scary extent her cousin was so into Kanda but now that she actually met the model, her cousin had no qualms making his adoration even more vocal.

Lavi grumbled, but kept his phone back into his pocket.

"One month from now Rei-chan. Mark my words," he reminded her. "You'll be walking down the aisle with him,"

This time, she really did spit out her tea.

* * *

Reiichi found herself alone at home in the afternoon. Lavi went to meet people she didn't really care for and Kanda, well, he was somewhere in Japan, probably. She was just getting started on Debitto's and Jasdero's outfits at her desk. After a short phone call, they basically told her she could do whatever she wanted, but they wanted to see drafts before giving it the green light. Surprisingly Lavi and Komui weren't against it when she discussed the project with them. She guessed that Lavi had less dislike towards the twins then the other Noahs, and that their concert had nothing much to do with Noah's fashion industry shares in general.

Which was good, because she really didn't get the thing going between the two companies. She was just about to shade Debitto's jacket when the doorbell rang. She went to the door and pressed the button that activated the screen that was connected to the camera at the gate.

Liquid golden eyes were the first thing that she saw when the screen turned on. Tyki Mikk was smiling his that charming way of his, waving at the camera casually. She blinked. Pressing the button for the speaker, she spoke, suspicious.

"Um, Kanda's not in, if you're looking for him,"

Tyki's smile got wider. "Ah, is that _Reiichi_?" He was still pronouncing her name differently. "No, I'm looking for you. Will you let me in?"

She knew that Kanda wouldn't have appreciated it if she let Mikk in, so, "I'll come out instead," she decided.

After slipping on sandals, she met up with him at the gate, standing a relatively safe distance away from him.

"I don't bite," he sounded amused, leaning back on his car.

He was dressed impeccably, and it was somewhat even flashier then the way Kanda dressed. He had on a suit, Hugo Boss, and he left his inner shirt half unbuttoned, showing off the golden chains that hung around his neck. He was even wearing gloves, and in one hand, a formal hat.

"Did you like the flowers I sent you?" he started off, putting his hat back on and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Actually, I didn't receive anything…" Again, those mysterious flowers.

"So the twins weren't lying," Tyki muttered to himself. "Well, it was a bad idea to leave it with Kanda Yuu anyway,"

Fixing on his usual grin, he titled his head gently. "It was an apology gift," he explained. "For touching you in appropriately,"

Reiichi nodded slowly. "The thought is appreciated," she said. "Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

Inwardly Tyki was feeling a little irked. He was Tyki Mikk, and for some reason, this girl either didn't know who he really was, or that she just didn't care, which was impossible. He was the sexiest man alive, second in Japan because the Japanese liked pretty boys like Kanda Yuu, and there was no way a girl was ever not trying to get his attention. But apparently, this girl didn't understand.

He tipped out his hat and pulled flower from it. Twisting it idly in his fingers, he tilted it towards her. It was a blue rose, complete with thorns on the stem. Somehow the twins had her investigated thoroughly, information probably from Sheryl, and they let slip her preferences when they were busy rubbing the fact that she liked them more than him.

As if.

"I'm here to ask you for a date," he began. "Since you didn't receive what should have been intended for you,"

"There's really no need," Reiichi shook her head, but she was mentally pinching herself. The first time someone asked her to a date was _Tyki Mikk_. Get real.

"I don't like feeling guilty, you see. I should have treated you better,"

"No, no, you're already forgiven," she insisted.

Tyki sighed. She was quite difficult.

"It's not an apology date I'm asking for," he gazed at her intently. "I'm serious,"

"Mikk-san," Reiichi didn't really know how to handle him. "It's entirely obvious that you don't actually want to do this. Don't you have prettier girls to chase? I'm quite confident that I'm not your type,"

Well, she got him there. But he already cleared his schedule for this, so he was getting what he wanted.

"What's so bad about spending a day with me?" he asked. "Most girls would kill to have a chance like that,"

"As you can see, I am not "most girls". So, have a nice day, Mikk-san," she bowed slightly, signaling the end of the conversation.

But Tyki was not to be deterred. "_Reiichi_, is the reason why you don't accept is because of your cousin?"

Reiichi stilled. "This has nothing to do with Lavi,"

"Oh, but I think it does," Tyki was examining the rose closely. "He told you to keep away from me, didn't he?"

Well, yes, Lavi _did, _but this was her choice.

"Don't you want to do something different for a change?" he walked closer to the gate. "Something that _you_ want, not him,"

Reiichi pursed her lips. "You think you can show me that,"

"Of course," Tyki was smirking now. "If you accept, I _guarantee _that you will enjoy yourself,"

"And if I don't?" she challenged.

He merely held out the blue rose. "That's impossible,"

Reiichi was curious. Extremely curious. She knew Tyki MIkk was dangerous in his own way. She didn't really believe the kind of dangerous Lavi kept insisting to her (drugs, suicidal tendencies, what?) but he was intelligent. She could tell he played his game carefully, he knew how to treat people accordingly, and not to mention, extremely good looks. Things always got more complicated when there was a handsome guy around.

If curiosity killed the cat, then satisfaction brought it back. Her fingers closed around the rose, and she looked at it in awe. The one Debitto and Jasdero had given her had already wilted away.

"This is a fake," she realized, as she touched the stem.

"It's a 'real'," Tyki smirked. "Because there's no such thing as a real blue rose,"

Reiichi caught the irony of it all, and she smiled despite her hesitation. "Okay, I'll go,"

He was smirking. "I wasn't taking a 'no' for an answer, _Reiichi_,"

"But on one condition," she cut in. "No touching,"

Tyki shrugged. "As you wish,"

* * *

Reiichi felt terribly underdressed once seated in his car. She was wearing a comfortable shirt and shorts combination, seeing that she thought she would have spent the entire day at home. Tyki had insisted there was no need to change, seeing that it wouldn't have made a difference. She didn't know what he meant by that.

His car was a Mercedes, black, expensive. Inside the leather seats were big and comfortable. He glanced at her every so often, striking up easy conversation. He was a lot easier to talk to then Kanda, especially since he was good with words.

He stopped in front of a boutique with a German title, throwing the keys to a valet and helping her out of the car. True enough to his word, he kept a respectful distance toward her, making her feel a lot more comfortable around him. The doorman held out the door for them both, greeting Tyki as though he was a regular, which she bet he was.

"Ah, Tyki," a woman sauntered up to them upon hearing their entrance. "It's good to see you again,"

She was beautiful, her face clean of any blemishes and towering in her stilettos, with short cropped platinum blonde hair and dark red lipstick. Her dark smoky mascara eyes scanned them both, and Reiichi felt a little intimidated by her.

Tyki leaned forwards and kissed the lady by the cheek in greeting. "Adelhied, this is Kuroshi _Reiichi," _laid a hand lightly on her shoulder.

"Hmm, this girl?" Adelhied went even closer to her and circled around her. Then she looked at Tyki disbelievingly, with one eyebrow raised.

"It's… a special occasion," Tyki rolled his eyes at her look. Well, duh, it was kind of obvious Reiichi wasn't his type of girl. "So I'll leave her to you then?"

"Of course, anything for you," She blew a kiss toward him as she dragged Reiichi deeper into the building.

"W-wait! What are you doing to me?" Reiichi panicked, looking back and forth Adelhied and Tyki.

Tyki merely waved to her cheerfully before his figure was cut off from a door closing in front of her.

* * *

"You could have warned me," Reiichi grumbled, folding her arms.

"I saw no need to," Tyki smirked, taking one of her now manicured hands and kissed it lightly. "You look amazing," he breathed, eyes boring into hers.

True, Reiichi wasn't as… for a lack of a better adjective, _hot_, as girls he preferred, but Adelhield had done an amazing job with her. Her figure definitely looked better as did her posture; he would go so far to say that she looked kind of attractive.

She jerked her hand back, heat rising to her cheeks. "No touching, remember?"

She had just endured nearly two hours of a makeover session, if she could call it that. Adelhied was ruthless, strapping her to a chair and suddenly a few of her assistants came over to do something to her feet, hands, or face. She was also presented with a selection of dresses, and she argued with Adelhied over her choice for nearly ten minutes before they compromised on a black and nude off the shoulder piece. Again, she was forced to wear heels – this time, no compromise on Adelhied's part.

But she had to admit, that they did a pretty good job on her, seeing that she was now a stark difference to the girl in the shirt and shorts earlier on. But she knew Tyki was totally lying when she complimented her. Surely he had seen more beautiful girls in his life.

Adelhied gave them both a suggestive wink before they left the boutique. Now back into his car, she was curious.

"Where to now?"

He was elusive as ever, smiling charmingly. "You'll see,"

* * *

"I was sure you'd like this," he was saying confidently as he offered an arm to her.

"I do," she answered, but she was gazing at the scene in front of her.

He had brought her to a museum, a showcase that she had wanted to go but never really got around to it. The museum front was decorated specially, because the current showcase about the history of fashion design. There were fabric flowers lining around the grand white door, and the handles of the door were even sparkling gold.

It was elaborate, and even the entrance had a red carpet to signal the way in. There were other people about, no doubt rich people from the looks of it. Visits to art museums were ridiculously expensive in Japan. Tyki flashed her their passes, and she saw that they were even allowed in the restricted sections.

"How did you even get those?" she incredulously asked.

"You forgot who I am, didn't you?" He smirked, leading the way in.

She kind of did. But she was immediately reminded when whispering arose as they stepped into the building.

"_That's Mikk-sama, isn't it?"_

"_Of course, though, it's a pleasant surprise to see him here,"_

"_Hmmm…who is that girl with him?"_

"_I'm not sure. Another one of his flings, maybe,"_ Giggle. _"I wouldn't mind either,"_

"Ladies," Tyki was in front of the gaggle of girls now. His deep voice made them fix their rapt attention on him, as though they were hanging on every word he was speaking. "Good afternoon,"

"Good afternoon, " they chorused obediently, eyes sparkling.

"W-would you like to join us, Mikk-sama?" one of them sweetly asked, twirling her hair in her fingers.

"I'd love to," Tyki smiled charmingly, nearly causing her to faint. "But I have someone special with me today," he glanced at Reiichi. "It would be extremely rude of me to deprive her of my presence,"

"Of course, of course," they assured him. "We'll leave you to it. Please excuse us," and they scuttled off.

Reiichi could only stare on in sick fascination. ".._Deprive me of your presence_?" she coughed. She was on the verge of laughing hysterically. "Did you really say that?"

Tyki scowled slightly. "What's so wrong with it?"

"Nothing," Reiichi bit her tongue to prevent the snicker that was threatening to leave it.

This man was even more egoistic then Kanda. At least Kanda only cracked his jokes (not that he knew it was like a joke to her) when she threatened his confidence in his own looks with her own snarky comments, but Tyki weaved his remarks even in his usual speech. It was almost hilarious.

He shot her a disbelieving look but cleared it to his usual gentleman smile. "Let's move on, shall we?"

They spent a few hours browsing the entire building, and Reiichi was especially delighted to view the collection of Victorian corsets they had on display, including a few other collections such as Princess Diana's range of dresses that she wore in her lifetime, flown to Japan especially for this event. She was already storing various designs she saw in her head for future use, a multitude of motifs and patterns were swirling in her head. She couldn't wait to mix them up and create her own piece, and maybe she could even use something in her other themes in the project.

Reiichi stopped at a particular piece, a classic 1970s outfit for men. It was the era of the disco, so she wasn't surprised at the particular style. The jacket was white and crisp, with an inner flowery shirt. The pants complemented the jacket, and it flared at the ends. A particular thought flashed through her mind.

She was imagining Kanda in that outfit, and she could feel her lips twitching in her amusement. Him in that? No way. His hair would have to be gelled back, revealing his forehead (her smirk went wider) and he would be wearing those god awful sunglasses. Pointy shoes on his feet. Disco dancing.

That was the last straw and she covered her mouth, desperately, keeping her noise down. Tyki looked at her weirdly.

"What are you thinking about?'

She calmed down after a few seconds, dismissing the ridiculous image she had of her model out from her thoughts.

"Just what if Kanda wore _that_," she pointed to the display in front of them. Maybe she could make something similar for one of the themes, she grinned evilly.

But Tyki wasn't on the same track as she was. "Kanda, huh," he mused, nodded his head. "You're thinking of him while you're with me," he muttered. "Unbelievable,"

"It's not like that," she heard him. "I am designing his clothes, you know,"

"You could do one for me too," he put in suddenly. "It'll be a great opportunity for you, don't you think?" he continued. "_Reiichi_, cousin of Lavi Bookman, designs something for rival company Noah,"

"Your intentions now sound especially dubious, Mikk-san," Reiichi spoke after a while. "You brought me out for what purpose, really?"

Tyki shrugged. "I was just suggesting, no need to be so defensive, _Reiichi_,"

He sighed inwardly. She was harder than he thought. Now that he knew she already had attach-y feelings to _Innocence, _her cousin's company,and Kanda, it was going to be all the more difficult to bring her over. The Earl wasn't going to be happy about this.

* * *

For their next destination, Reiichi found herself outside _Vogue_. She really didn't know what they were doing here, after all, it wasn't like they could just walk in and take a tour around or something. The glass building towered above her, and it was just as classy as her office. There were people walking in and out of the entrance, all dressed in the latest fashions with their heads held proudly up. It was a place of confidence.

Tyki guided her in and leaned on the reception counter, immediately capturing the attention of the receptionist. There was a short flirting exchange – she had witnessed the same process her cousin did to their receptionist every morning but it was a lot… heavier with Tyki – and they were given the green light to head on in.

"Where are we going?"

"There's someone whom I want you to meet," was all he offered, a smirk gracing his features.

They reached a top floor after a short period of silence seeing that he wasn't spilling any details, and they came to a large doorway. A buff man was sitting at the desk, but he stood up when he saw them.

"Anita-sama has been waiting," and it was then that Reiichi sheepishly realized the person she thought was a man, was in fact, female.

Tyki waved a hand in thanks, stepping forwards to let himself in the large office. It was huge, with almost an entire living room in the front of the space and a workdesk somewhere behind. The furniture was all glass and wood, classy and clean. A huge fishtank sat at the side of the room, and a figure was peering into the tank.

The figure turned around upon hearing their entrance. "I told Majoha to warn me first," she was saying softy to herself. "But no matter,"

The lady in front of them was Anita, the head of _Vogue_ Japan. She was extremely beautiful, a heart shaped face complete with doll like features. Her black hair was braid slightly at the sides, but they hung down lose framing her delicate face. She looked young, but she was not to be underestimated. After all, she was single handedly running the highly credited company.

"Anita," Tyki greeted her with a chaste kiss on her hand. "I'm glad you chose my company for today,"

She chuckled. "You said you had something interesting for me. I was curious,"

Reiichi was now feeling a little out of place. Anita was someone she respected greatly as she was an important figure in the scene. And for some reason she was just standing in front of the said woman like that.

Tyki gestured toward her. "Kuroshi _Reiichi_,"

"It's Reiichi," she corrected. She didn't want Anita to start pronouncing her name weirdly.

Anita laughed slightly and looked at Tyki who just frowned at her.

"You're an interesting one, Kuroshi-san," Anita took her hand and pulled her towards the couch. "First designing Kanda Yuu's clothes. Then having Tyki Mikk out on a date,"

"That's-"

"It's not a bad thing," the woman smiled warmly at her.

Tyki was already helping himself to the cooler and he scrutinized the various wines available. Then he looked at the other liqueurs available. So many choices...

"I particularly liked the Jealousy piece," Anita was saying to her. "I thought your interpretation was quite clever,"

Reiichi blinked upon the direct compliment. She remembered that stupid article saying something quite the opposite about her.

"Thank you," she smiled bashfully. "I am greatly greatly honoured to meet you,"

"My, how polite," Anita patted her hand.

"She's never that polite with me," Tyki grumbled, handing them both a glass. He had finally settled on champagne.

"You have enough girls as it is," Anita waved his little comment away. "Keep this girl pure, hmm?"

"I'll try," he looked away from her, sighing. Now he had another obstacle to go through. "You were saying you wanted something different to wear for the _Valentino_'s showcase," he told her pointedly. "So I brought it,"

"So I'm now an 'it'," Reiichi muttered under her breath.

"Hmm," Anita looked at her thoughtfully. "Kuroshi-san, how long have you been making clothes?"

"About two to three years," she answered uneasily.

"You're…" Anita trailed off, looking at her wide-eyed.

Tyki on the other hand, choked on his champagne. "Are you kidding me?" he looked at her incredulously, and was that, a new light in his eyes?

Personally he thought the clothes she made based on the past few pieces he saw on Kanda weren't all that bad, and it was saying something because he was so picky about his clothes (of course some of it wasn't to his taste like the _Gluttony_ one – he had a good time laughing at the model though). But he didn't know she was still so… _new_ … to it all. Two to three years? That was too short a time to learn how to make clothes in the kind of quality she sew, much less design her own creations. She was basically a freaking prodigy, if she wasn't lying.

"I can see why Kanda Yuu chose you," Anita nodded to herself slowly. "Are you open for a request from me?"

"Are you sure, Anita-san?" Reiichi wasn't really believing her ears. This was big. Maybe even bigger than when Kanda asked her to be his designer (more like forced), because Anita was a designer herself.

"As long as it doesn't trouble you," Anita smiled in that way of hers.

"It's definitely no trouble at all,"

Now she was kind of glad she quit school. An opportunity like this was insane. On the other side, Tyki was feeling a little put off. He was a little irked at how Reiichi so readily accepted Anita when she shot him down in less than a minute.

* * *

"What did I tell you?" Tyki was saying smugly when he pulled up in front of her house.

They had dinner at an Italian restaurant he had booked reservations at. The price nearly caused her to choke on the water she was sipping, but Tyki assured her that it was entirely worth it. She saw what he meant when the food came, because it was probably one of the most delicious things she had ever tasted. She ordered a plain Aligo Oligo, not because it was the cheapest but because she liked her spaghetti without cream or sauce. Tyki was slightly amused and ordered her a dessert spread to make up for it. She would have been lying if she said his action was not welcomed.

Reiichi sighed in defeat. "That I would have a good time,"

"And you did,"

"Yeah," she admitted. "Thank you for today,"

It had been a while since she spent a day out doing something different then draw and sketch in her room. She had been skeptical at first, but this was Tyki Mikk she was talking about. She accepted the fact grudgingly halfway through their date. He treated her respectfully, always listening to whatever she wanted to say and never pushy. But this didn't mean she was falling for him or something. Just that he was beginning to be more likeable.

Like a true gentleman, he helped her out of the car, and escorted her to the gate even though it was only a few steps away.

" Good night-"

Tyki stepped forward and covered his mouth over hers, cupping her face as he did so. Reiichi froze in shock, and he took the chance to deepen the kiss further. He slipped his tongue in, pressing even closer, until she regained control of her brain and pushed him off.

"W-what-" she stumbled backwards, hands over her mouth, trembling. "That was my first… my first.."

But Tyki wasn't looking at her now. She followed his gaze to the door of her house, and even more uncomfortable feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. There standing was Kanda, hand on the doorknob, just stepping out of the house. Kanda and Tyki stared at each other, neither wavering in their gaze. Kanda was glaring, while Tyki took on a more amused expression. The uncomfortable silence was nearly killing her, until Kanda spoke.

"What the fuck are you doing here? "

"Just sending the lady home from our _date_," Tyki tilted his head towards her, a gracious smile was ever present, but she could hear the taunt in his words.

"I don't give a damn what you two were doing," Kanda growled. "But get the hell out of my sight, fucking Noah,"

Tyki turned back to her, charming grin in place. "Seems like I should go before your landlord gets riled up. Good night, _Reiichi_,"

"Before you leave..," she had calmed down from the unwanted action previously.

He looked at her questioningly, and did not expect the hand that slapped him across the face. In his dignity, he took it like a man, not flinching.

"No touching," Reiichi repeated her conditions of the agreement. "Good night,"

She let herself though the gate without a backward glance and pushed past Kanda, not bothering to acknowledge him. Her door shut loudly and it was heard by both the males.

"Well, well," there was another voice behind Tyki and he turned.

Lavi was leaning on the other side of his car with a blank expression.

"I would have done that myself," he looked pointedly at the red handprint on Tyki's face. "But the outcome would have been much worse,"

Tyki chuckled, leaning against his car. "I'm still in the game, Bookman. Your darling cousin will be thinking of me all night, especially since it was her _first kiss_,"

Lavi had his hands hauling the front of Tyki's shirt in seconds, a death glare in his eyes. "The next time you come within a kilometer of her…" he threatened. "You'd wish you chose death instead,"

The Portuguese merely snorted. "This is between _Reiichi_- "

"Don't you even dare say her name," Lavi hissed dangerously.

Tyki sighed, prying the fingers off. "Kanda Yuu," he was walking to the other side of the car now.

"What?" the other spat.

"She's not yours, you know," he smirked. "So get used to it and stop frowning so hard. You'll get wrinkles,"

"What the hell are you-"

But Tyki had already driven off, a careless backwave to them both. Kanda and Lavi watched as the car turned out into the main road, disappearing from view. Lavi let himself in through the gate, hand on Kanda's shoulder as he directed them both back inside the house. He had come over because they had planned to go downtown and hit the clubs, but the incident that just occurred totally ruined the mood. When Reiichi said she was out he didn't mind, because he had no idea it was with Tyki Mikk. And now…

"Oi, stop with that," Kanda was glaring at him now.

"What?"

"That… pathetic look,"

Lavi scowled. "I'm upset,"

"I can see that,"

It was extremely rare, but this time Lavi was annoyed with his best friend, instead of the other way round. "HE STOLE HER FIRST KISS! HOW CAN I NOT BE UPSET, HUH?" he was shouting now, and he didn't care.

"It's just a stupid kiss,"

"First kiss," Lavi emphasized. "You remember your first kiss don't you?"

"You mean that damned senior-" Kanda grumbled, remembering the bad memory.

"See what I mean?" the redhead insisted. "Anyway, Rei-chan's was supposed to be with you-"

"WHAT?" Kanda cut in angrily, but lowered his tone when he saw that Lavi was being serious. "Lavi," He rarely used the other's name either. "I don't like your cousin," he stated bluntly. "In that way," he clarified, upon seeing the displeased look on his friend's face.

"But but but but Yuu…" and Lavi was back to normal. "Don't you feel anything? You know, when he did _that_ to her,"

Kanda paused. Really, did he even feel anything? When he opened the door and saw _that_, well, he was just irritated some stupid couple was going at it right in front of his house but when he realized it was Mikk of all people, the hate grew ten times worse. That fucking stupid _Noah… _Anyway didn't he already warn her about him? It wasn't his fault if she didn't want to listen.

Kanda didn't answer him, but instead went to the door. "So are we going or not?"

Lavi decided to let this time slide. He glanced at Reiichi's shut door contemplatively for a few seconds. She wouldn't want to talk to him about what just occurred, at least, he'll give her the night to process her mind. "Hell yes," he jumped off the couch. "I need something strong,"

* * *

It was her first.

_First._

Reiichi sat crouched behind her door, trying to recollect her thoughts. She traced her lips unconsciously, but in her shock then, she couldn't even remember how it really felt like. Was it soft? Did it make butterflies in her stomach? She felt her cheeks going hotter and hotter and she curled up in a ball.

So she lost her first kiss to _Tyki Mikk_. How was she supposed to feel?

"_HE STOLE HER FIRST KISS! HOW CAN I NOT BE UPSET HUH?"_ Lavi's voice rang through the door.

Upset, maybe.

Wait wait wait. Lavi was back. And he saw that.. that.. that _kiss_. She slapped a hand to her forehead. First Kanda, now Lavi. Great.

It wasn't supposed to be with anyone anytime soon. It was supposed to be special, with someone she really liked and she would remember it fondly for the rest of her life but now… Yes he was handsome, yes girls would have killed her to have the chance, but why did he have to do that? Now all she could think about was Tyki and she gripped her head, trying to shake him out.

"_Anyway, Rei-chan's was supposed to be with you-"_

"_WHAT?"_

She did a similar double take. Kanda? No, no, no, no, she laughed weakly to herself when a forbidden thought passed her mind. That would have been even worse.

"_I don't like your cousin,"_

She expected it, but for some reason it still _hurt_. Haven't they been living together? Tolerating each other? At times she even thought he was actually okay company... She grumbled slightly.

"_In that way,"_

Oh. Well, she could say the same thing.

"_But but but but Yuu…Don't you feel anything? You know, when he did _that_ to her,"_

She wondered why she was even waiting for his answer. Not like it would have made any difference. But maybe it was because she rarely heard him say anything regarding his feelings that made her slightly curious.

After a long stretch of silence, _"So are we going or not?"_

She sighed. It was bad to get her hopes up. But really, what was she even hoping for? She heard the door close again, and it signaled that the other two had gone out for their male date as planned. She stared back into her room, now everything was deathly quiet. Then Tyki's face popped back into her mind and she groaned.

This was going to be a long long night.

* * *

**Owari.**

About the blue rose irony thing. It's a bit confusing, so I'll explain it again.

Blue roses don't exist.

Thus only fake blue roses exist.

Hence a fake blue rose is real.

So where did Debitto and Jasdero get their real blue rose? That is a question I haven't thought of answering yet…

TYKI IS SO DIFFICULT TO WRITE. But since Tyki has to do something about Reiichi or else his ego can't take it (seeing that he is competing with Jasdevi, and to a certain extent, Kanda) this chapter was entirely necessary. The kiss was actually never intended, but I've said before, the characters write themselves. It was like Tyki had to do it or he wasn't Tyki D:

I've already written the next chapter (I'm on a roll!) but I'll review and edit it until about New Year's day. So anticipate it then!


	18. Chapter 17

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

The past week had been a little bit awkward. She hadn't talked about that incident with Tyki to Lavi in detail, only just a shake of the head when he asked her if she wanted to talk about it. He did not pry, and she was immensely thankful for it. She had more or less forced her brain to delete the memory of the incident even existing, so they acted like it never happened, although she could feel that it was definitely forced on Lavi's part. Kanda, on the other hand, acted like his behavior wasn't forced, only, he was more irritable than usual, but she passed it off as his usual PMS.

The man responsible for it all sent her a bouquet of roses (this time red) to her the next day, saying that he had to leave the country for some business and that he'd find her again when he was back. She didn't throw the flowers away because that would have been plain rude. Of course, she was glad she wasn't going to see him some time soon. That kiss it probably meant nothing (actually, definitely meant nothing) to Tyki Mikk, but it was annoying her a little.

She immersed her mind to the thing she knew best over the week: designing and sewing to keep her mind off all the unnecessary. The next theme was _Sloth_. This was another tricky one. Of course she knew sloth – laziness, sluggishness – but it was a slight problem translating that into an outfit. She was half tempted to make pajamas, but she knew that would definitely earn her flamers. Finally, she settled on winter wear because winter always made her sleepy and want to hibernate under the kotatsu. She pitied Kanda a bit for the shoot because the model would be perspiring like crazy in the winter clothes. However that was his job, so she went ahead with the idea.

And so, today was the fitting day.

It was totally expected that Kanda was extremely displeased with her. So much so, that he wasn't even talking.

"Kanda…" Reiichi was trying to get him to take his outfit to change. "Just take it."

He opted to keep his death glare on.

She sighed. "Take it, or I'll get Lavi to force it on you," she threatened.

"…You are insane," he started saying, "Sick in the mind."

"I'm calling Lavi," she decided when he wasn't budging.

He grabbed her before she could take a step toward the door. She struggled, but he was obviously stronger than her. She was getting annoyed.

"Look, what's so bad about wearing tights?" Reiichi gripped the hand that was on her arm, trying to wrench it free.

Kanda sighed in an 'I-can't-believe-you're-asking-this' way. "Have you seen any _male_ wearing tights?"

"….No, but-"

"And there's a reason why we don't," Kanda clenched his grip even tighter. "Because it fucking looks _gay_."

Reiichi looked at him for a moment before laughing. "You," she gasped between breaths, "Kanda Yuu, 'most wanted man in Japan'," she mocked, "doesn't want to wear what his designer made for him because he's _scared_ of being called girly?"

"Gay," he corrected, "I'm not scared-"

"So much for your manliness," she cut off his retort, grinning. It was so incredibly fun to tease him, especially at how he looked like he was torn between being horrified at the notion that he was scared of something, or having his masculinity questioned by her.

"Just wear it," she slapped the outfit to his chest, pushing him into the changing area roughly.

The rustling of clothes told her that he was finally listening to her. She belatedly realized Kanda was kind of easy to manipulate if you pushed the right buttons. Then she realized she sounded like her cousin….

Kanda came out a few minutes later, grumbling under his breath. He didn't know how Reiichi somehow always made something that was _weird,_ but then again, he had found her portfolio the most interesting out of the rest of the goddamn stupid school for a reason. He knew he would wear whatever she made eventually, mainly because there was never enough time to make another one, and also because it was like a challenge. If he couldn't wear weird stuff then he wasn't _Kanda Yuu._

He trudged to the mirror reluctantly.

The colour code she had stuck to was blue and white, which he admitted grudgingly were some of the colours that complimented him well. He had on a white sleeveless turtle neck, above that, a dark blue sleeveless winter coat that cut off at mid-thigh. He left the row of buttons in front unbuttoned. Wooly arm warmers covered up to his mid-upper arm. He was wearing the–god forbid—light blue tights, and she had given him navy boots that had edges rimmed in white fur.

It was like a goddamn oven.

Reiichi buttoned up the front jacket, making him feel the heat even more. It wasn't over. She went to take a bundle of cloth that was lying on the mannequin nearby, draping it over him. It was fastened with a button that lay above his shoulder. Then she pulled the hood of what he assumed to be cloak over his head.

Kanda looked at himself in the mirror. The murky blue cloak had some white pattern lining the edges. It was an odd style for winter wear. Maybe this was a common look in some fantasy land, but in this modern day and age, no one in their right mind would be skipping along the sidewalk with this on.

"I look like…"

"An elf," she supplied, helpfully.

"I was going to say fucking moronic, but— wait," he paused, taking in her comment. "Did you just call me short and annoying?"

"Well you are annoying—" she stopped a bit at his biting look. "But no, I was not. How did you even come to that conclusion?"

"Elves; aren't they those stupid short things with pointy hats—"

Reiichi stared at him, horrified. "You are ruining my image of elves. Haven't you watched _Lord of the Rings_?" she demanded.

"What the hell is that?" Kanda never remembered the titles of movie he watched (or was forced to watch with Lavi).

"I'm sure Lavi has watched that with you," she thought, trying to think of how to describe it to him, "The one where there were nine people and they set out on a quest to destroy this absurdly evil ring…"

"…."

"There were walking and talking trees…" now he was looking at her like she belonged in the mental hospital, "…and the ring was destroyed in a big volcano…"

Kanda snapped his fingers. "You mean the three retardedly long movies that ended with owls that could have just dropped the stupid ring in the volcano in the first place?"

"Hey," she felt a bit insulted. "The owls weren't allowed to interfere—"

"Whatever. I don't care," he cut her off. Then he remembered she compared him to an elf... "So you think I'm some glow-ly girly boy?" he demanded, remembering that one character in the company of people on the idiotic quest.

"He's not girly! He's just kind of pretty—"

"What did you say?" He turned on her, scowling. "Of all things, you think I'm _pretty—_"

Reiichi flushed a little at her accidently blurted words but his reaction was truly inconceivable. She shoved him. "You can't take a compliment, can you?"

"How's that a compliment—"

In the midst of their argument, Lavi slammed the door open enthusiastically, being done with his work for the day.

"YUUUUUUUUU—"

"WHAT?" Kanda and Reiichi both turned to at the disruption at the doorway.

Lavi cowered for a moment, then straightened up to survey the duo. They were standing pretty close to each other. "Did I interrupt something?"

Kanda was first to complain. "Your cousin," he sniffed disdainfully, "Thinks I'm _pretty_," he was scowling even deeper now.

"Well," Lavi was tempted to say 'You are', but the last time he made a comment with 'Pretty' and 'Yuu' in the same sentence he nearly got annihilated.

Reiichi was also frowning. "I just said he looked like an elf—"

"And you said I'm like that girly boy!"

"I did not!_ You_ are nowhere as good looking as_ he_ is—"

"—Have _you_ checked your eyes recently? _I'm _definitely better looking—"

"—And, _he's_ unquestionably, manlier than _you_—"

"—By wearing tights, of course—"

Lavi sat himself on the workbench watching them argue. It would have been better with popcorn, but there wasn't any in the kitchen. The heated argument sounded ridiculous if he were to guess from their comments flying in the air, so he decided to let them continue. After all, Reiichi needed to release stress and Kanda seemed to be the punching bag this time around.

"—Even _his _eyes are light blue which is undeniably gay—"

"—Newsflash, Kanda. _Your_ eyes are blue too—"

"—_Mine_ are dark blue, which is so much more masculine—"

"—You're just saying that because _his_ body is better built than _yours_—"

"—Woman, everybody wants _me _naked—"

"-That's because the thought of_ you_ naked probably makes everyone feel better about their _own_-"

Lavi laughed. He laughed so hard that he fell off the workbench with a loud thump, silencing the argument. He easily helped himself off the floor, continuing to gasp for breath in between the laughter, grasping his stomach.

"Usagi, you tell her," Kanda snapped.

"Yeah, tell him," Reiichi folded her arms.

He wiped a tear that leaked before straightening his face.

"I don't know, Yuu… the elf was pretty hot…" Lavi twirled his finger at him, watching as Reiichi's grew a triumphant grin while Kanda's expression got darker. "But of course, that's saying _she_ thinks you're hot too…"

Reiichi caught what he had implied and she glared at him. But the implication went past Kanda.

"So I'm better, right?"

* * *

The air conditioning was already turned on to the lowest degree possible as evidenced from the jacket Reiichi was trying to hug herself with whilst watching the on-going shoot. But Kanda was perspiring like crazy just after wearing his outfit for ten minutes anyways. It was only the beginning of the shoot, and he could tell it was going to be one hell of a torture ride. Already he could feel his back becoming damp. He grimaced at the disgusting feeling.

Allen was no doubt, enjoying Kanda's discomfort. He had been asked to create an Arctic like scene for the shoot. It was like a blanket of snow on the floor, but of course it wasn't snow because that would melt quickly and make a disaster on the floor—so he had gotten finely shaven white foam balls to create the effect. A fake ice cave was made with clear plastic, giving Kanda the space for him to sit on or stand against to model.

Fou had done a fantastic job as usual, powdering Kanda's face and lips paler to mimic the air of winter while giving him slightly dramatic eyes with silver and blue eye shadow. Kanda was lying down on the fake ice, head tilted backwards to face the camera while his hair spilled like dark ink to the snow.

"_Yuuu are beeeeauuutifulllllllll—_

_Yuuu are beeeeauuutifulllllllll—_

_Yuuu are beeeeauuutifulllllllll— _

_It'sss truueeeeee—" _

Lavi sang as he snapped his photos, much to the annoyance of the model whose name was being mauled.

"_I ssssaaaw yourrrr faceeee—_

_In a ccccrowded placeeee—_

_Andddd I don't knowwww what to doooo—_

'_Cause I'll neverrrrr be with Yuuuuuuuuuuu—"_

"Damn straight," Kanda snapped.

"How's living with BaKanda been?" Allen asked the girl beside him causally.

"It's… okay, I suppose," Reiichi relented finally after trying to search for an adjective, "He's quite easy to live with, actually,"

Allen faked a gasp of disbelief. "You're kidding me."

"Well other than his OCD about being late, being clean, having his door closed, having the lights off when he sleeps, having no music in the house, putting the remote on the left side of the television, eating noodles with only chopsticks, using a particular cup every morning even though he has five which looks exactly the same, having soba at least twice a week, cleaning his sword thrice a week, Kendo every morning, swimming only at nights, working out only in the afternoons—" she counted off her fingers…

Allen coughed.

"Once you get used to his extremely routine life," she summarized, "its okay."

"Bah, he's boring," the white haired boy propped his feet up, "I was hoping for something to blackmail him with."

"Well…" Reiichi put a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "Did you know that he's—"

Suddenly the air around them got heavier and they both sensed a dark presence looming above them. They shivered, looking up. Kanda was glaring directly at them both, as though he could hear their conversation although they were not in hearing range of Lavi's since they were taking pretty softly, and Lavi was standing closer to them than Kanda was. They waved innocently and his look darkened even further. Only when Reiichi put her hands up in surrender did Kanda stop trying to kill them with his death glare of doom.

"So what about him?" Allen whispered to her conspiratorially once the attention was not on them anymore.

"Sorry I'm not risking this," She shook her head apologetically. "I'll get thrown into the pool again."

"He threw you into the pool?" he gaped with disbelief. "So much for his honor bound code of not bullying girls…"

Reiichi blinked. "He has something like that?"

"There's a reason why he hasn't killed any females yet, you know," Allen chuckled. "Considering all the groping and molesting he has experienced. Now I'm really curious," he grinned, lacing his fingers together. "Just what did you find out?" he was nearly smirking now. "I'll find out sooner or later…"

Reiichi smiled slightly at the not so innocent boy.

"By the way…" Allen spoke cautiously. "Lenalee's a little worried about you,"

"For?"

"The 'thing' with Mikk," he said nonchalantly, hoping that it wasn't still a sensitive topic to her.

"And you're not worried?" Reiichi pouted slightly.

"I-I am!" he flusteredly reassured her."It's just that Lenalee has been too busy to meet you so I—"

Reiichi ruffled his hair slightly. "I'm just kidding with you," she chuckled. "As for the '_thing_ with Mikk'," she air quoted him. "I'm guessing Lavi told you," she sighed at his nod. Well, she figured that Lavi would have freaked out about it more than her. "I can't change the past but I can pretend that I can change it. So it's deleted from my memory,"

Allen laughed. "Your mind power is incredible,"

She gave a slight smile, attention turning back to Kanda who had now taken off the cloak he was wearing for another round of photo taking.

Then it dawned upon him how true his statement was. From the beginning whence he knew her, he was surprised (pleasantly), that she was not falling over her feet trying to get Kanda's attention, because that was what he was used to. She even said Kanda was nothing special. (Yes, he really liked Reiichi, who could blame him?) And then she handled Mikk in her own special way. At first he brushed it off as her being related to the insane genius cum photographer, but then Reiichi had been living a pretty normal life before, even with Lavi.

So the only conclusion for her slightly detached behavior was the fact that Reiichi was consciously controlling her own thoughts that it became real. If she denied something, then that thing did not exist. If she thought that she should act to something a certain way, then she would. How far she thought it all through, he did not know. It was a little scary now that he thought of it, and he couldn't help but feel maybe he was over thinking.

There was no way someone would be able to deny something strong, particularly feelings. Well if she eventually fell in love with Kanda (because Lavi had brainwashed him so much that the first thought after 'Reiichi' would be 'Kanda' (after 'Kanda' was still 'asshole')), that would be a huge disaster if Reiichi went into denial or something.

Of course that was too early to worry about soon, because when Kanda immediately stripped off the top after the session, showing off his toned, sweat soaked naked body, Reiichi merely shoved him away and took the discarded clothes off the floor, grumbling about his lack of respect toward the clothes.

On the other hand, Fou was grinning at the free eye candy and passed Kanda a dirty remark to which Kanda flipped her his finger, and the last other female in the room, who was one of the lighting assistants, had already fainted from nosebleed. Even Lavi had more reaction than Reiichi, Allen thought, as he watched the redhead fawn over the other's body without restraint.

Actually,_ that_ was kind of disturbing.

* * *

Reiichi hated rain.

People always say that they _love_ the rain; the smell of it, the feel of it—dancing in the rain when no one's watching or being kissed passionately in the rain—oh so romantic.

Not.

Frankly, she thought that the rain was rather annoying. What's so great about being wet, cold, walking in soaked shoes, having her clothes almost see-through and the worry of getting all her design drawings wet?

That was why she was in a foul mood on Friday. It had rained when she woke up, rained in the afternoon and had stopped after lunch time. The sky remained a dark grey, threatening to accumulate till the sky was black. She did not like it at all. Lavi made extra care not to crack any of his Kanchi jokes today, knowing that it would really infuriate her. Instead he left her to do the outfit for Jasdevi's concert, all while making sure that she never left his sight. Or that he never left her sight.

Kanda was out for some other shoot Lavi had no interest in— well fine, just because he wasn't the photographer didn't mean he was jealous. If he could take other models' photos, then Kanda could have other photographers as well.

"Rei-chan!" he sobbed. "It's not fair!"

"Life is not a shoujo manga, Lavi," she answered, almost robotically because it was the nth time that he was complaining about this to her. "Get used to it,"

"But- but- but- but its like, me and Yuu," Lavi insisted. "Or Yuu and I,"

"Look, that brand had their own photographer so _you are not wanted_," she emphasized, making sure that he got the point.

Lavi clutched his heart dramatically. "I hear my heart shattering,"

"I thought that was just the window," she replied, nonchalantly.

"Tsk, you're so harsh today," he patted her head. "Lighten up okay? It won't rain again, trust me,"

Reiichi sighed. "It's just…"

"Just..?"

"Just…"

Lavi waited patiently.

"Just…. Kanda," she finally managed. "Tonight. And you," she groaned, stopping in mid-work to cover her eyes. "I don't know,"

Although they were garbled words, Lavi read her like a book because he knew her so well. "The rain won't start again, so relax," he hugged her, feeling her concerns. "I would stay with you today but the old man is threatening to fry my ass if I don't come back tonight," he rubbed her back in circles. "I won't step out of the door. You know that right?"

"Yeah, but…"

"And Yuu won't use it against you, if he ever finds out," he promised. "He's not like that, Rei-chan,"

She only hugged him tighter.

"It won't rain. It won't rain…" he whispered it like a mantra to her.

When they were done for the day, it was already late evening. The ground was dry, showing that it hadn't rained since the afternoon. The sky was dark, but that was because it was getting late. It was lighter than they thought it would be, and it was a good sign. Perhaps Lavi would be right after all.

He smiled at her when she got into the taxi they had called. "Call me, alright?"

"Yeah," she clambered out to hug him one last time. "See you,"

* * *

All was well when she came home. She wasted a little bit of time around her room and bathed before Kanda came back. He made dinner as usual because he told her explicitly that he'd rather eat food that he made than hers. They ate together like usual, with a bit of conversation about the shoot he had today.

("But you wear it, don't you?" she asked, a bit amused at his complaints.

"_Men's_ jewelry," he raised the necklace he was wearing for emphasis. "Look at this,"

The necklace he was wearing was pretty simple and classic: a silver bar with a small black indent at the side.

"It's not fucking _pink_," Kanda spat. "Or heart-shaped,"

"You seem to have this… masculinity complex," she mused.

"I don't," he denied, almost vehemently.

"Sure you do," she continued. "Lavi wears pink. It's normal. Only you have an aversion to it,"

"Rei," he looked at her blankly. "It's your cousin," he emphasized. "He's not normal,"

"Well," she didn't know how to counter to that.)

It didn't rain through it all. She felt a lot better, and she even bade Kanda goodnight, him replying with a grunt.

Thus she was cursing the sky to the pits of hell and beyond when she woke in the middle of the night with the sound of thunder. Really loud thunder. You see, what Reiichi hated was rain, but what she abhorred, was _a storm_. She cringed and covered her ears as another ear splitting boom made it sound like the earth was dying. Then lightning streaked, lighting up her room for a split second even though her curtains were drawn.

Her hands were trembling already, goose bumps on her skin.

Reiichi would admit it; she was annoyed with rain, but deathly afraid of storms. Thunder. Lightning. It made her skin crawl and heart pound dramatically, as another round of those dreaded things rang in her ears and flashed across her vision. Now she was huddling beneath the covers in an attempt to drown it all out, but it wasn't working. Apparently her blanket was not opaque enough, and she didn't have a soundproof bedspread.

She hugged her legs, forming a ball as she pressed her face into her knees. The current storm was one of the worst she'd ever been through, and it was degrading her resistance rapidly. The sound of huge droplets of rain pelting down was repeatedly drumming, and the sudden thunder was deafening, causing her to jump. Lightning just made it all scarier. If Lavi was with her then she won't have broken down, because it was Lavi that she was scared about.

It was exactly like that day many years ago when she was beneath another blanket with Lavi, her crying while Lavi held her hand and stared into space grimly. She was only eight years old, and he, nine. It had been storming for a whole day and her parents hadn't returned as they had promised yesterday. Storms took people away, and her younger self ever since then had it correlated. When she grew older she knew storms were ordinary, but the fear stuck.

_Lavi_, she suddenly remembered. Her phone was on the table, out in the open where the light and sound was even harsher, but Lavi was more important. She had somehow squished herself at the foot of her bed against the wall after grabbing her phone, because corners made her feel a tad bit better. She pulled the covers back over her head, cancelling a little bit of the noise.

Luckily Lavi was first on speed dial, because she couldn't press the buttons probably. A few rings felt like ages to her, and her heart had jumped three times due to thunder before the call was picked up.

"…'Ello?"

Lavi's bleary voice told her that he had been sleeping.

"L-Lavi," her voice cracked, both out of relief and fear.

"Rei-chan!" he shouted, suddenly awake. A series of curses stringed from his mouth as he realized it was storming outside. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I should have called you earlier! Are you okay?"

She gripped the phone tighter as another boom of thunder cracked. "N-no," she admitted.

A sudden wetness dripped onto her knee and she realized that she was crying. Wiping the tears away, furiously, she willed herself to get a hold of herself. Lavi was alright. He was safe. He was indoors.

"Don't cry, Rei-chan," Lavi bit his lip, pacing about his cramped room. There wasn't much he could do over the phone. "Screw the old man, I can go over and-"

"No!" Reiichi immediately cut him off. "No," she breathed deeply. The tears weren't stopping. "D-don't ….step out of the h-house. I'm…okay," but her affirmation sounded so fake.

"You're not okay," Lavi was rustling about and she realized he was finding clothes.

"L-avi, don't," she pleaded with him. "I-I can't lose you,"

"Rei-chan…"

"I c-can't lose you," she repeated, between muffled sobs. "D-dad and mum… didn't c-come back… Y-you can't be g-gone… I…"

"I won't be gone," he told her gently. "I won't step out okay? So don't cry…"

She kept silent, tears still running, just contented to hear him speak over the phone.

"Rei-chan, hold on for a minute," he suddenly said. "I promise I'll be back, okay?"

"Okay,"

He put her on hold and an irritatingly happy song repeated and repeated.

_I know__ that we can all be friends_

_I know that this will never end_

_I know that we can all be friends_

_I got the letter that you sent_

_I think I know just what you meant_

_I know that we can all be friends_

A few minutes later, she grew worried that he was trying to distract her so that he could leave the house and come find her.

_I know that we can all be friends-_

Suddenly her covers were pulled back and the fresh air conditioned air hit her skin. She reeled back in shock, simultaneously wincing when thunder struck yet again louder than usual.

"Yes I found her, stop fucking yammering—" It was a very annoyed tone of voice.

She peered up in the darkness, and Kanda was eyeing at her, frowning, with a crack of light behind him from her open doorway.

"Usagi…." She couldn't really see his features clearly since her vision was blurry from tears, but his tone dropped even more murderous.

"Rei-chan!" This time, the voice came from her phone. "I've got Yuu to—"

"W-what are...you doing?" Her voice was still cracked. "I want you, not… h-him,"

"Since I can't be there with you physically, Yuu'll do it," he said as though he had discovered the cure for cancer. "I'll talk to you through the night, don't worry. Hold on for a moment again,"

_I got the letter that you sent_

_I think I know just what you meant_

"No…" Kanda leaned against her wall as he talked to Lavi on his phone. "I don't care if she—" he paused. "Just get here yourself you idiot…she's fucking nineteen, Cyclops…" he sighed, irritated. "Look, it'll blow over soon— Oi. Oi! Lavi!" Kanda looked at his screen.

_I know that we can all be—_

"Fucking reception," he cursed, tempted to throw his phone against the wall.

* * *

It was entirely awkward.

Kanda had stared at her uncomfortably when he got cut off, and then made to leave her room. She was the one who had launched towards him and gripped the back of his shirt as lighting flashed. He was not Lavi, but he was someone. Fear had already blanked her mind, because she just needed someone with her.

The sound of rain still pelted hard.

That was how they found themselves sitting side by side on the floor at the foot of her bed against the wall. She huddled back into her ball and he sat cross-legged, arms crossed. She had tried to call Lavi back a million times, and finally when Kanda took the phone out of her hands as he got irritated, she broke down again, muffling her cries into her knees.

"He's not going to die, you know," Kanda cursed his friend who woke him up telling him that it was an emergency. A crying cousin was of course, Lavi's emergency, not his.

"… I know," she mumbled.

"Then stop it."

She tried to wipe the tears, but they were still leaking.

"I-I can't," another wave of tears came.

He sighed, knocking his head into the wall voluntarily. "Stop fucking crying, damnit!"

"I can't!" she clenched her eyes shut tightly, voice raised. "I'm scared! I'm scared, okay?... I'm so damn scared! ...He's the…only one I've got left!" she hiccupped somewhere in between her words, voice hoarse. "I can't…lose him…to anything…or anyone…"

Kanda really didn't know what to do. He didn't plan to comfort her at all; but now the sight of her so vulnerable was giving him a weird feeling. This would be the first time he was witnessing such a moment. Sure he had seen her upset, depressed, but never till the point that she cried. It was slightly disconcerting.

"Look, your cousin wouldn't die no matter how many times I've tried to kill him," what was he doing? "He doesn't die that easily. He's like a cockroach,"

She gave a short noise that was in between a snort and a sniff and Kanda thought she was calming down until thunder and lightning ripped through yet again. He could practically feel the tremor of fear that shook through her body.

He wasn't used to comforting people or stuff like that. In fact the only people he ever gave comfort to (although it was never really his intention) were Lavi and Lenalee… and the Moyashi. Allen mostly made him watch him eat while he complained (did that count as comfort?). Lavi was easy to handle, because all the boy needed was someone to tell him the cold hard opinion or truth on his issue, something that Kanda did all the time anyway. Lenalee on the other hand, was a girl, and she either just wanted someone to listen to her or physical comfort, meaning, she hugged him (of course it was never the other way round).

Now Reiichi wasn't even talking much, and he more or less knew the situation from Lavi so that meant the listening strategy was out. Physical comfort? There was no way he was going to hug her, he scowled. That was Lavi's everyday job. But he moved slightly closer to her, sitting with his legs propped up like hers. He ensured that his shoulder was touching hers slightly, and the side of the knee to her knee, ankle to ankle. She stopped trembling.

Neither of them said anything.

Three hours later the storm subsided—it was still dark. Kanda was sleeping, eyes closed, head still against the wall, breathing rhythmically. Reiichi was still awake. By then she had calmed down, and thoughts were racing through her head seeing that the roadblock of fear was now gone.

Firstly, Kanda had seen her _crying_, which was something she didn't ever want, but couldn't be helped. And it wasn't even a small weep, but a large breakdown. How could she face him later? Secondly, he knew about her fear of storms, she grimaced slightly. Thirdly, he actually stayed with her, which was totally not…usual.

She was close enough to him to stare at him in the darkness. His face was free from the frown or glare that was always present. Thick dark lashes, full lips slightly parted open… She daresay he looked…beautiful—ethereal. Next thing she registered was his scent. He always used either some kind of cologne or body cream that smelled like sandalwood and white musk, but now she could even smell something _soft_ that seemed to come from his skin.

She was almost reaching to touch his hair, since it was so long that it was even spilling to her shoulder, but her phone vibrated suddenly. The first thing she registered was Lavi's worried voice.

"Yeah, I'm okay," She cut his ramble off, glancing towards Kanda.

Reiichi didn't know it herself, but she was smiling.

* * *

**Owari.**

The elf is um, **Legolas**, if you've never heard of _Lord of the Rings_ which I would say you're sadly deprived. That was entirely for my own amusement so forgive me. XD

At first I didn't really like the idea of Reiichi having a fear of storms because I'm afraid it might have some consequences later on which I might forget (like say I cannot write a scene of a rainy day without her moodiness). But it was to show just how important Lavi is despite her less enthusiastic display of affection toward the latter, and of course she has to see Kanda in a better light.

I'm just horrible at writing crying scenes, honestly…

Also, I'd like to thank _Tsuki Yume_ who goes by _Penchant-for-raising-Cain_. She has done a fanart for the set on _Lust_ on her DA account **bakamoyashi96**, so take a look!

Special thanks to **The-Door-On-The-Leftt** for beta-ing this chapter!


	19. Chapter 18

**-Imitation Black-**

Lenalee surveyed the girl in front of her. She had been in China the past week for a runway session, modeling for _Shanghai Tang_ and hadn't had the time to interact with Reiichi. Both of them were in a little quaint café having a small ladies bonding session over tea. Reiichi was fascinated with the variety of desserts and pastries available when they came in, and her reaction reminded Lenalee of Allen's enthusiasm towards food in general.

Reiichi dressed pretty nicely today, Lenalee thought. The past few times she had seen her, she usually wore jeans, except for that time at the ball. Today, Reiichi had a casual black and white polka dotted dress on, with a belt at the waist and red pumps on her feet. It made her look very cute and pretty in her opinion.

The girl seemed a little different than before though. Her facial features were the same, but she seemed a lot more distracted than usual. Reiichi still gave her all the right responses when she recounted her trip to China, however, she caught the glazed look that passed through her eyes sometimes.

Was it the kidnapping incident?

The Mikk incident?

Or something else?

Since she was a relatively straightforward person, she decided to ask the girl directly. Once their current conversation drifted to a lapse, she took the chance.

"Reiichi," Lenalee started off casually, not wanting to blow things out of proportion. "Is something bothering you?"

"What makes you say that?" Reiichi looked surprised, and even somewhat guilty.

So there was something.

Lenalee smiled gently.

"So there is,"

Reiichi gave a small defeated sigh as the model kept silent for her to elaborate.

"I was just wondering…"

Lenalee waited patiently.

"…what does Kanda like?"

The Chinese model blinked—then blinked again. As far as she knew, Kanda was the last thing on Reiichi's mind. She had guessed Reiichi was worrying over other things, like her designing job, or Lavi, or at least Tyki Mikk, so she was taken aback at her answer. Through all the news updates she had gotten through Lavi or Allen, Kanda didn't really come up in the conversation except for the in-progress match making attempts.

"_Kanda-kun?_ "

Reiichi caught the disbelief in her voice. "Nevermind; forget that I asked,"

"No, No," Lenalee's grin seemed to stretch. "Why do you ask?"

"I just want to give him something…"

"For?" Lenalee shifted even closer to her now, extremely curious.

"For… helping me,"

"By doing?"

Reiichi would normally try to change the topic again, but the way Lenalee was looking at her told her that there was no way out of this one. Reluctantly she told Lenalee about what occurred yesterday, or to be precise, this early morning, leaving out tiny details like the reason for her phobia and such. Lenalee kept a straight face through it all, nodding her head as she listened intently and did not pry into things she purposely left out.

"So it's a thank you gift," Reiichi concluded after hastily explaining the situation. Was it just her, or were her cheeks getting warmer? "I was thinking of something related to kendo," she continued. "Or soba. But there's nothing he doesn't have that I can give,"

"I see," Lenalee drank her tea slowly, hiding the smile that was threatening to be permanent. Was Lavi going somewhere with his declarations after all?

Hearing about her childhood friend's actions made her proud of the guy. On the contrary, to people who did not know Kanda, they would think he was just some male bitch in his own right. Of course, that was a teensy bit true (because of his language and 'arrogant-ice-cold-unfeeling-bastard' behaviour in general), but she believed deep down he was a softie. A fluffy marshmallow that was coated with, perhaps, layers and layers of metal.

Lenalee could already tell Reiichi was having second impressions about the said man, seeing that the redhead was relating the awkward story with veiled tenderness. Yes, she could see hope for both of them. The Chinese model took one of Reiichi's hands gently and held them in her own.

"Reiichi," she said softly, "there are some things money can't buy," she began, "and you can give Kanda-kun that,"

"Happiness? Joy?" the designer was skeptical. "_Love_?" Now that just sounded sarcastic.

Lenalee chuckled. She would have said yes, but that would have been a Lavi thing to do. "Just be there for him when he needs you," she said simply.

The hand that held the last portion of Reiichi's dessert stopped in mid-air.

"He won't need me, Lenalee," Reiichi snorted in disbelief. "Not ever."

She just smiled sweetly in return. "…Who knows?"

* * *

It was entirely expected, but Kanda acted like nothing happened. It was entirely not expected, but Lavi also acted like nothing happened. Reiichi was pretty sure her cousin knew that Kanda stayed with her through the night (although technically he fell asleep one hour into it), and she already braced herself for the teasing. Oddly enough, Lavi only hugged her tightly when he came over that night. Maybe Lavi thought that anything related to storms was a sensitive topic for her. For that, she thanked her cousin's consideration towards her.

Nonetheless, the denial of anything that happened yesterday made it difficult for Reiichi to bring up anything relating to it. Thus the 'thank you' she wanted to express was not given a single chance, and she was getting a bit annoyed. It certainly felt like she _owed_ him something, and the feeling kept irking her inside.

It was so stupid, she thought, that she was getting worked up over something like this. How should she say it to him? Or would he even accept it? If he didn't, then what was the point in thinking about thanking him anyway? But not thanking him would have made her feel even guiltier –why did he do it in the first place?

Thus, the cycle of thoughts continued.

"Rei-chan…" Lavi mumbled sleepily next to her. "You're gonna kick me off the bed…"

"Sorry," she whispered, shifting herself closer to the edge on her side to give him space. "I can't sleep…"

"But you didn't sleep yesterday…" her cousin turned his body to face hers, his good eye half open. "Aren't you tired?"

"I am…but…"

"Is something bothering you?"

He was now more awake. Lazily, he cupped one hand to her cheek and smiled gently.

"Yes…" Reiichi admitted softly, but elaborated no more.

Lavi took it as a sign that she wanted to handle this on her own. He trusted her enough to judge what she wanted to share. Pulling her closer, he heard her sigh comfortably when she buried her face into the crook of his neck. It was so rare that she exposed herself so vulnerable, and it shook him a little. It was still a few more hours till sunrise, and he hoped she could at least sleep a bit to not look like she was walking death tomorrow.

"Don't fret so much…" he whispered to her. "Because it's Yuu we're talking about…"

* * *

"Gooooddddd Morning, Yuu-chan~!"

Kanda paused with his hand still on the door knob. What was his friend doing so early in the morning? The photographer was leaning on the wall in front of him with his arms crossed and an extremely annoying bright smile. He hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and the sight before him was quickly eroding his appetite.

He ignored the person and headed for the destination he had in mind, but apparently the redhead did not care. The other latched on to him the moment he started walking.

"Get off me," Kanda gritted out, trying to toss the boy over his shoulder, but since Lavi was taller and gripping onto him, he was having a little trouble.

"Ne, ne, Yuu-chan," the idiot started to say. "We're going with you,"

We?

Kanda spied Reiichi standing awkwardly next to the couch in the living room, amused at her cousin's behavior. When their eyes met for a split second, they both discreetly turned away their gazes immediately, but obviously it was caught by the other man.

"No,"

"Why not~~" ugh Lavi was whining now.

"Because," Kanda cut him off harshly, "You and the other idiot will start blabbering, and it is fucking aggravating to hear both of you talk,"

"But he hasn't met Rei-chan yet –"

"It's better if she doesn't," he put in, determined to not let his friend get his way. "She'll be infected by his stupidity,"

"Why, Yuu-chan," Lavi was grinning in a way that really got on his nerves, "I didn't know you _cared _so much for Rei-chan-"

"I don't– "

"–It must be true love –"

"–usagi, shut the hell up– "

"–Or maybe you are jealous about the possibility that– "

"–who's jealous, you moron-"

"-of course, of course, I respect your wish to protect her– "

"LAVI," Kanda held his grip firmly around the other's neck now. "Zip that fucking mouth before I do it for you,"

"Are you gonna kiss me?" the redhead was still smiling freakishly.

The disgusted look that came over Kanda's face and the sudden coughing that Reiichi developed almost made him laugh, but he kept his composure. "We're coming,"

"Get it into your thick skull; I said no,"

Reiichi sighed. She had no idea where Kanda was going or what they were talking about, however Lavi said they were going for breakfast. She was hungry. But looking at the scene before her–they were at stage two of the usual routine now, aka, Kanda hurling death threats–she figured it may take some time before they left the house.

"Guys," she cut in between their squabbling. "GUYS!"

Kanda seemed furious, and he turned his glare onto her.

"Lavi, get off him," she commanded. Her cousin sulked, but complied, and the sour look on the model's face lightened a bit.

"I'm hungry, so can we just go?" she implored. "You know he's never going to give up,"

Kanda stared at her for a few seconds before the scowl came back on his face. "Tch, fine," he shoved Lavi for good measure before he stalked angrily past them both, grabbing the car keys.

"I'm standing by my view," Lavi said, once Kanda was out of earshot.

"What would that be?"

Reiichi decided to humor him a little, but she half guessed what he was going to say judging by the look he was giving her.

"Yuu's so biased towards you,"

"I know," she deadpanned.

"He's totally in love with you, I can tell,"

"I know," Reiichi repeated, sarcasm weighing heavy.

"You're no fun," he pouted, wrapping an arm around her to guide her out of the house, where Kanda was most likely waiting impatiently.

"I try not to be," she rolled her eyes.

The Reiichi he knew was back.

* * *

It was about a thirty minutes drive to their destination. The car ride had been more or less silent because Lavi miraculously did not agitate Kanda, but instead took to talking normally with Reiichi. That is, normal by definition included his customary list of her imaginary boyfriends (now they were at the letter T).

They reached a wet market, she realized, as she stepped out of the car and the smell of raw meat hit her senses. Grocery shopping? She never pit Kanda as the type to do these kinds of errands. But then she had never thought how food appeared in the fridge every week. He even seemed pretty comfortable here and he blended well into the scene, even though he was dressed a lot more…crisp and clean…then the stall owners of the market.

"Yuu-kun, you've brought your friend along again!" an old but delighted voice croaked from one of the stalls as they passed through.

Kanda glanced at the old lady and grunted slightly, head tilting down in slight respect.

Lavi waved back enthusiastically. "You remember me, obaa-chan?"

"Of course," the lady smiled kindly, eyes crinkling. "And who's this lovely young lady here?"

Reiichi shifted slightly but bowed in greeting. "She's my cousin, obaa-chan!" Lavi's voice was proud and happy as he answered for her.

"You'd better go," the lady pointed at Kanda who was already a good distance ahead of them since he did not bother to stop. "Yuu-kun's impatient," she giggled and waved them off.

This was so…different. The smells, sights, and atmosphere were so distinctively unlike what she was used to. It was her first time in a wet market, and she watched as the mostly elderly crowd picked through fruits and vegetables at a stall or bantered with the butcher who chopped off a chicken's head without a heartbeat. The old lady was a hint to her that Kanda was a regular here, and seeing that she addressed him by so familiarly, he had probably started coming a long time ago.

She thought he was just meandering through the market to find a stall he usually frequented to buy his groceries, but they eventually came upon an open aired restaurant just opposite at the end of the market. _The Asian Branch_ sat above the entrance in pretty calligraphy writing. The restaurant was pretty empty, only with a few customers still lingering about. Most probably because it was pretty late in the morning already, and too early for lunch, thus the lack of people. They stepped in, and saw an old man chopping up vegetables in the corner.

"Old man," Kanda spoke, but there was no response at all as the man continued to concentrate on his task.

"Old man!" Still no response. "ZUU– "

"YUUUUUUUUUUUU~~~~~"

A figure suddenly came launching at Kanda, and the model, who did not expect this, crashed painfully onto the floor with the sudden weight. The mysterious person excitedly grabbed Kanda by the shoulders, and started babbling.

"Yuu! You're back! You're really back! I'm so glad to see you– " then he suddenly stopped short, as if noticing Lavi and Reiichi for the first time.

"Lavi!" oh gosh, his tone was as happy-go-lucky as her cousin. "Long time no see, man. How's it going?"

Lavi didn't even have a chance to reply as the person turned to her with such intensity that she took a step back. A boyish grin was directed at her. The boy had short black hair, huge sparkling eyes, and a chubby smile. "Hey, I'm Alma Karma," he winked at her. "And you are?"

"Kuroshi Reiichi," she smiled, though a bit apprehensive. "Lavi's cousin,"

"That's right," her cousin put in, his arms in front of her defensively. "Out of bounds,"

"Ohhh… so you're _that_ 'Rei'. Aww man," Alma pouted, clapping Lavi's shoulder. "Come on, I'm better than Yuu, and you know it,"

The small reunion was cut short when Alma found himself dangling in the air.

"Why are you not dead yet?" Kanda grounded out as he kept a firm grip on the other's collar.

"Is that how you treat your childhood friend, Yuu?" Alma was leaking tears dramatically. "After all that we've been through together?" he demanded.

"Yes," Kanda bluntly answered. "Now go get us a table, freak,"

"You're so mean today," he sobbed, then straightened up. "Is it because I hit on your _girlfriend_– " Alma nudged his head towards Reiichi.

Reiichi sighed exasperatedly. This guy was exactly like her cousin. How they managed to jump to stupid and far-fetched ideas, she would never know. "I'm not his girlfriend– "

"YUU-KUN!" The sudden booming of the forgotten old man made them all jump.

"Zuu-sensei, lower your volume," Alma implored, wincing.

The old man fidgeted with some device behind his ear for a few seconds. "Yuu-kun, how have you been?" he asked, this time voice back to a decent level.

Kanda just huffed, irritated. "I just want a fucking table, retards,"

* * *

Reiichi now understood the reason why Kanda was so reluctant to bring them along. She actually felt bad for the model. She sent him a sympathetic look as she watched her cousin and Kanda's childhood friend, Alma, gleefully recounted the top ten stories centered about Kanda Yuu's personal and private life moments.

"Oh, how about that time when he accidently mistook the remote for his cell phone!" Lavi burst into another round of laughter, joined by Alma.

"No, no, that cannot beat the time when Yuu mistook vodka for water!" Alma insisted, her cousin was crying with laughter at this point. "I mean, come on, the smell of vodka is so totally obvious– "

Kanda was trying to ignore both of them, but it failed, as waves of his anger radiated dangerously. The pair of chopsticks he was holding snapped into two, and Reiichi realized sickly that those chopsticks were made out of plastic.

"What, did Yuu get wasted a second time, after his first night of being drunk?"

"Hell yes– "

Apparently the other two were oblivious to it all, because they kept going on. Reiichi prayed a silent prayer for them both. Kanda slammed both his hands on the table loudly, causing every other person in the restaurant of sorts to look at them.

"Will both of you just shut the fucking hell up?" He hissed, fists clenching.

Unfortunately, Alma was maybe denser in the sensitivity department then her cousin was.

"Is Yuu getting embarrassed?" The guy slung a shoulder over the model. "I'm sure your _girlfriend _won't dump you for such trivial matters– "

"HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU–SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Kanda screamed, hauling the other boy up.

"Don't be shy, Yuu," Alma grinned at his friend's flushed face (which was from anger). "Lavi's told me all about your confession. I must say, I never thought you had it in you, eh,"

Alma was dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"USAGI….." Kanda growled low, advancing towards the photographer menacingly.

Lavi smelled death and backed away slowly. "Calm down, Yuu… I was just thinking about the future, you know…" he rubbed his head sheepishly. "Put those chopsticks down… erm, Yuu… put them down…"

The murderous smirk on Kanda's face stretched wider.

Lavi opted to run.

Both Alma and Reiichi sat in their seats, watching as Lavi hightailed out of the restaurant and into the main road with Kanda hot on his heels. They wouldn't be back for some time, she knew.

The boy next to her slung an arm over her shoulder, shifting closer. "Sooo… Rei, was it?"

A hard rap on Alma's hand made him retract it, wincing painfully.

"Hands off the girl, boy," The old man whom she identified as the owner of the restaurant, Zuu, placed steaming plates of cooked food on the table they were sitting around. "Get back to work, there's still food in the kitchen," he pointed to some general direction.

Alma huffed childishly, but followed Zuu's order. Zuu made himself comfortable in the seat Alma had vacated, smiling kindly at Reiichi. "Might be a little late, but I'm Zuu,"

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Kuroshi Reiichi," she greeted him formally.

"Yes…yes… I've heard a lot about you…" he patted her on the head. "Continue to take care of Yuu-kun for me, will you?"

Reiichi was about to protest about taking care of Kanda or anything of the sort when Alma came back, balancing five plates on his arms expertly, dishing them out on the table.

"Don't break his fragile heart, alright?" he put in, then wiping a tear from his eye. "Yuu's all grown up now, Zuu-sensei…"

Zuu also had a faraway look in his eyes.

Reiichi felt the strong need to clear up the misunderstanding. "I'm sorry but I'm not attached to Kanda," she said bluntly. "I don't know what Lavi told you but 'Kanda and I' will never happen,"

Alma stared at her out of shock. "You mean you…don't like Yuu?" he gaped, like it was blasphemous.

"He's alright as a friend, but that's as far as I draw the line,"

"That's denial when I see it," Alma burst out, pointing at her. "The first stage of denial is…denial,"

Reiichi snorted, ready to retort but Zuu cut them off.

"As a friend then," Zuu smiled at her. "Take care of him,"

The designer kept a neutral face. It puzzled her, and greatly so. Kanda was one of the strongest people she'd ever met. He kept his problems to himself, solved his own problems, and she had not seen him in need of any…care…per say. She was the one who had people to help her all the time.

"I don't really understand," she admitted after a while. "Kanda's the one taking care of me– "

"Yuu pretends," Alma now sat down beside her. "He's not as invincible as many think he is," he continued. "We've known him for so long. Trust us,"

"The boy is right," Zuu agreed. "I was Yuu-kun's caretaker once, when he was really young, before he was adopted by Mister Tiedoll…" he continued. "He was not…welcomed…by his own flesh and blood," Zuu gave an empty smile. "We're always worried for him," he added.

"But today…you came," Alma mumbled. "Yuu seems so much better…"

"Kanda seems the same to me..." Reiichi insisted. They were making too big a deal of her role. Granted, she did notice Kanda kept his temper more than usual (because he usually would have started chasing Lavi out the minute they stepped in), but that really wasn't nothing much; and certainly had nothing to do with her.

"Other than Lenalee-chan, you're the second girl he has brought here," Alma plowed on, determined.

"Lavi brought me here, not Kanda," she corrected.

"Still– "

"Boy," Zuu stared at Alma and he shut up.

Zuu stood up, walking towards the entrance of his establishment. All of them turned to see Kanda walking back towards them in the distance with Lavi clinging on to him, laughing.

"I know he hates it when he comes here…" the old man continued softly. "We remind him too much of his childhood…"

"Then why does he keep coming?" she asked curiously.

Kanda was shoving Lavi away and Lavi stumbled into one of the vegetable stalls, knocking over a box that contained radish. Luckily Kanda lunged forwards and caught the box, handing it to the owner who ruffled the model's hair affectionately. A ticked off expression passed Kanda's face as Lavi laughed at his expense.

"Who knows?" Zuu smiled cryptically, sharing a look with Alma. "Maybe there's a part of Yuu-kun that can't let go of this…"

* * *

**Owari.**

For the first part in Lenalee's POV, it sounds… odd. I can't seem to write in from her point of view at all. That would be my first and last attempt. I'm sticking to Reiichi's POV from now on.

_Wet market – I'm not sure if everyone knows what this is, but it's basically like a supermarket except it's in a space which is not air-conditioned and a lot dirter. Fish and meat are butchered/killed in front of you and stuff._

Eh… this chapter is probably my most dissatisfied with so far…it's too filler-y and I don't plan to bring Alma back anymore..

Again, many thanks to **The-Door-On-The-Leftt **who beta-ed this chapter (especially pointing out all the commas) even with her busy school week!


	20. Chapter 19

**-Imitation Black-**

**

* * *

**

"I love this, sista," Debitto twirled in front of the mirror, admiring his own form. "I look more awesome than ever, if that's even possible,"

Reiichi held out his arm to ensure that the length of the sleeve was correct, and then moved over to other parts of his body to ensure the fitting.

"Jas! Are you done yet?" the twin called over to the dressing area where his brother was still changing.

Jasdero emerged eventually with an irritated sigh. "The button, man," he gestured to his back. "Can't get it,"

Reiichi pushed him gently to his brother and buttoned him up. "There," she nodded, satisfied. "Take a look guys,"

In the mirror the twins grinned back boyishly at her. The code she stuck to for them was leather and lace, black and red. Since Jasdevi's genre was mainly punk rock, she made their outfits as experimental as she wanted, almost bordering on visual kei. Their concert, _Last Angel_, named after their last album, made her muse run wild.

For Debitto, his outfit consisted of a leather jacket with a silver zipper in front for his main body that was cut at midriff, and the sleeves were made of black lace of a snake skin pattern all the way to his fingers. Red rimmed the edges of the collar and the midriff. On his back she had sewed on black and tinted red feathers to create an artificial wing on his left shoulder. He also wore a metal cuff on the right wrist, and a headpiece made out of black and white feathers that covered the front part of his head like a visor, adding a mysterious aura to the singer. The pants were made of lace as well, stretching nicely over his figure till it disappeared into leather boots lined red.

For Jasdero, it was almost the opposite of his twin. The body section was made of lace in a gothic pattern that came till his mid upper arms, and the rest of it was leather right to his finger tips. The leather on his hands was rimmed with red. She made him a boa made out of feathers to drape around his frame. The bottom half was leather pants with belts strapped around that was attached from his platform high boots. Like Debitto, there was an artificial black and red wing on his right back.

When they stood side by side, they completed the image she was going for. Two black silhouettes melded into one, giving a dark and dangerous figure with wings on its back.

The last angel.

"Look, can I go now?" An extremely irritated voice shattered the vision she was having.

"Yuu-chan, you have to stay and protect Rei-chan from these two… baddies!" Her cousin pointed at Jasdevi unabashedly.

"Fuck, why can't you do it yourself?"

"But you are her _koibito_-"

It was Monday, and by right she should be sketching for the next theme for the Seven Deadly Sins, which was _Greed_. She did keep it swirling in her head and the outfit was in progress in her brain – money, jewels, shiny things and the like – but there were still ideas she was turning in her head before she could sketch them out on paper. Still, it didn't merit her cousin or Kanda her work room. Weren't they famous or something? Why were they so _free_?

She had seek permission from Komui to allow Debitto and Jasdero to enter (it wasn't really needed but she felt that it was better seeing the _thing_ between the companies) and of course Lavi was informed. It was embarrassing, the way her cousin nearly incapacitated the twins for just patting her on the shoulder. It was like Lavi was Komui, and her, Lenalee. She had gotten him to behave (more or less) so that they could get down to serious business – but he insisted on keeping watch on them. That she could understand, but what she didn't understand was why Lavi had to drag Kanda into all this.

She and the twins watched as the Japanese model pinned the guilty to the wall.

"Ya know, he reminds me of Skin when he's mad," Jasdero commented mildly. "Like throwing tables around and stuff,"

"And Bookman is like Sheryl with Road," Debitto agreed and shuddered.

"I guess we both know dysfunctional people," Reiichi turned back to them. "Everything is fine?"

"More than fine," Debitto grinned and gave her a friendly hug while Jasdero joined in the group hug.

"We're super amped," Jasdero added from his place.

The hug was torn as Lavi stood angrily between the twins and her. "I said no touching!" he insisted, pushing Reiichi towards Kanda while he advanced towards the twins.

Kanda caught her before she slammed into him. "Che,"

"Bookman, she's practically family-" the twins tried to explain, but that only fueled the fire.

"She's _my_ family," he growled, cracking his knuckles.

Reiichi slapped her forehead. This was going nowhere. "Can you do something about your best friend?" she turned to Kanda.

"Can_ you_ do something about your cousin?" he retorted back.

This was wasting his time more than ever. Yes he really had nothing else to do, but that still didn't mean he had to sit through someone else's fitting session . Especially when the people in question were goddamn _Noah_. If Rei wanted to mix with these people then it really wasn't his fucking problem, but the rabbit was trying to make it their problem.

He pursed his lips, leaning against the back of the wall because if he left, Lavi would just hunt for him again and drag him back. Reiichi went forwards to pull Lavi back and said something angrily to him while his friend dropped the furious expression and nearly whimpered under her words. Lavi backed off reluctantly, leaving her to do her thing.

She unzipped Debitto's front piece slowly and took it off his shoulders, revealing the dark and lean front of the singer's. He said something next to her ear and she chuckled at the unknown words, now tugging at the sleeves gently to take them off. Jasdero nudged her and pointed at his pants, and she turned to help him unbutton the pants. At this point, Kanda turned his attention somewhere else, feeling a bit off for unknown reasons. Maybe it was weird to see her do what she usually did to him every week on someone else. It didn't really occur to him that she really was a designer and therefore used to these kind of things until now.

Or it could just be the fact that Noah made him sick.

When Kanda looked up again, Lavi was staring at him curiously.

"What?" it came out defensive.

His friend went to lean next to him against the wall. Wordlessly, Lavi put a hand over Kanda's, and Kanda realized his palm was clenched into a slight fist.

"Nothing, Yuu," the redhead finally said. "Nothing,"

* * *

After the whole Jasdevi incident, Reiichi nearly strangled Lavi for his upmost best behavior he had promised and failed to deliver. At first, Lavi was supposed to accompany her to their concert on Saturday, but after what happened, she refused vehemently. Thus in order to try and apologise for something he didn't want to apologise for, Lavi insisted that he treated her to dinner on Tuesday night, not like he didn't do it all the time anyway. Specifically he found some fancy posh restaurant with good Japanese food, so he told her to dress nice to impress.

That was why she found herself shifting through the many dresses she had gotten from _The Order_ with Kanda and Lenalee sometime back. She finally settled on one that didn't look too formal. It was a long sleeved short dress that was simple and clean cut. The only thing that stood out was its colour or pattern on the dress. They were random splotches of black, light blue, pink, orange, like clouds and faded mist on a plain white background. She left her hair down. On her feet she picked black platform leather heels that bared a tiny bit of her toes and came above her ankles. Wallet and cell phone went into a white clutch.

At 7 15 she stumbled out of the bathroom, aware that she was running a little late. That was also another reason why she found dressing up a hassle if it wasn't necessary. She sent a quick message to Lavi to inform him, and he said he'd wait for her outside the restaurant.

She reached outside a traditional Japanese restaurant at 7 40, ten minutes later than they had agreed to meet. _Akashi_ was written proudly in Kanji and Hiragana above the entrance where a young woman dressed in a beautiful formal kimono stood to usher guests in. Reiichi glanced around but saw no flash of similar red hair.

_Lavi, where are you?_

She sent another message, biting her lip. There was no reason why he wouldn't be in front of the restaurant since he said he had arrived on time. Seconds later her phone vibrated, signaling the arrival of a message.

_Rei-chan, turn to your right :D_

Reiichi looked rightwards. Then looked back at the message again, then looked to her right again. The person on her right was not the one she was expecting, because instead of red hair, it was black and long. Instead of one green eye, she saw two dark blue ones. Instead of a jovial happy smile, it was a disbelief laced with anger frown. As you have guessed, it was our favourite model leaning against a lamppost by the sidewalk. Raven hair let loose under the moonlight, white crisp shirt, black vest and navy tie, Kanda was glaring at his own phone now, punching some keys furiously.

No, he did not just get coned by Lavi. But he did.

_Enjoy your dinner date ,Yuu-chan! 8D_

Was the rabbit's only reply. He was only here because Lavi said he found some place that served good soba so obviously he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity when his friend said he'd pay. Already for the past ten minutes he had endured nearly seven unknown girls trying to hit on him. To make the night worse, he realized he was now obligated to go through this… this… _date_.

_Enjoy your last night alive._

He replied back to Lavi, sending off all his murderous intents.

Reiichi sighed from her position. This plan was entirely Lavi like. Why had she not suspected it sooner? Slapping her phone shut, she reluctantly walked over to Kanda who looked like he wasn't going to move.

"Lavi?" she prodded.

The dark glare affirmed her suspicions on his side.

"So… do you want to go in?" Reiichi tilted her head towards the entrance. She was hungry and she had dressed up for apparently nothing. "Or we could go home…"

"And I have to cook?" Kanda huffed, gripping his phone. "We'll charge ten times the amount we eat to usagi's account," he decided, stepping away from the lamp post.

He made way to the entrance and the lady Reiichi saw earlier bowed to them both. "Sir, Madam, do you have a reservation?"

"Under Lavi Bookman," Kanda grounded out, blacked face.

A flash of recognition flashed past the lady's eyes as she gazed at Kanda and she sent him a seductive smile. "Of course, Kanda-sama," she nearly purred. "Right this way,"

Reiichi inwardly rolled her eyes. She had forgotten how much Kanda captured attention in public. The lady had more or less ignored her the moment she realized it was _Kanda Yuu_ in her presence. So what if he was Japan's top model and undoubtedly good looking? She was still a customer in her own right.

They were led through the relatively quiet but packed restaurant. Inside, the décor was traditionally Japanese. Calligraphy paintings hung on the walls and rice paper made the dividers. The lights glowed a warm ember, making the place feel comfortable. Eventually she showed them to a private booth that was enclosed with the rice paper dividers. The table was low, with the floor below it open like a trench. Kanda took off his shoes and Reiichi did the same, both of them sliding into their respective cushion seats.

The lady winked at Kanda one last time before she bowed to them both and left. A waiter came in, dressed less elaborately as the other female but still in traditional clothing, and also bowed.

"Good evening, I am your server for tonight,"

Hot green tea filled their cups and they were handed the menu. Kanda didn't even need to open the menu.

"Cold soba and tempura," he immediately said.

"And the lady?"

Reiichi flickered through the menu. There were just too many choices. The variety of desserts they had was also pretty amazing, she mused, as her eyes roamed over the different parfaits available.

"Woman," Kanda snapped his fingers to get her attention. "Main course,"

She flipped back to the previous pages, eventually deciding on curry rice, not before ordering a chocolate and strawberry parfait concoction. Kanda made a face.

"I know you don't like sweet things but I do," she defended.

He 'tch'ed.

After the waiter left, Reiichi started feeling awkward. It was absolute silence if not for the air conditioning since they were in a private booth, and the fact that neither of them had anything to say made it even worse. If he was Lavi, Lavi would be the one leading the conversation around but he wasn't.

At home, it wasn't too bad. But this was at a fancy restaurant, which was really uncomfortable seeing as they had never gone out for dinner together alone before. It was like the action insinuated something. Both of them were even dressed up for this. Like they were on some kind of _date_. She blanched.

They weren't, she reminded herself. It's just dinner.

Kanda was still grumbling on the inside (okay, fine, he was also outwardly grumbling) about this thing he had been forced into. Yes he was aware of the not so subtle attempts of Lavi trying to get him and Reiichi together, but this crossed the line. He could tolerate the name calling and such but this... This, was beyond that. This was a _plan_ that was being executed.

He scrutinized the booth they were in and realized with some satisfaction that Lavi could not spy on them since they were shielded from the other patrons. Either Lavi forgot (which was impossible) or that he was just dense. Kanda settled on the latter obviously.

He turned his attention back to Reiichi who had already started to fidget. Kanda was not oblivious to the sudden awkward atmosphere that they both created, but he made no move to correct it. In fact, he was making it worse because he was eyeing her directly across the seat. Today she didn't look half bad, he guessed, but that table tapping habit of hers was getting a little on his nerves.

After minutes of wordless staring, Reiichi couldn't take the intensity of his gaze. "W-what?" she cursed herself for stuttering.

He smirked. "I'm just looking at you,"

Reiichi blinked, feeling a bit creeped. "Did you hit your head somewhere?"

Kanda didn't say anything but continued the staring.

"Will you stop that?" she demanded after a while. "It's downright creepy, especially because it's you,"

"Tch. You're too easy," Kanda fingered the steaming cup of tea.

"I wasn't aware it meant something," she replied, annoyed.

"Confidence," he said immediately. "When you fidget, it shows that you are weak,"

Reiichi scowled slightly, sitting up straight. She placed her hands folded on her lap and took on the unsaid challenge. She stared back this time, determined. Weak? As if. She watched carefully as Kanda kept his smirk on. His gaze was flickering over her form, and there was this… appreciative tint she recognized when Lavi flirted with other girls. Wait wait wait was he…_checking_ her out? She quickly killed the thought before it developed further but it did not stop the heat that was crawling to her cheeks nor the queasy feeling in her stomach.

Luckily she was distracted when the waiter finally came in with their dishes. Kanda snorted amusedly at her and she wanted to hit him for that, but they both said a soft 'itadakimasu' before their meals.

Suddenly she just didn't feel hungry anymore. Poking around her rice, she ate one small bite, chewing slowly. Even the taste seemed dull, she mused. The butterfly feeling in her stomach would not subside. This was stupid because she knew the reason for her loss in appetite.

She was nervous.

Nervous of being alone with Kanda.

It was almost unthinkable. It wasn't like they've never been alone before, nor was it like he would do anything (much) to her. Despite being quite infuriating at times, he had proven himself to be a pretty sensitive guy, especially that time with the storm. Speaking of which, she hadn't thanked him in any way for that. There was a thought that flashed 'do it now' through her mind. It made her feel even worse. She opted to drink the tea to try and calm now. Kanda noticed the sudden change in her demeanor and looked at her, chopsticks with soba.

"Are you going to eat?" he frowned. "I won't wait for you if I'm done,"

"Yeah," Reiichi faked a smile, trying to ignore the anxiousness that was growing for no reason at all. She started to eat her main course, albeit extremely slowly.

"What's with you?" the man set his chopsticks down, looking intently at her.

She fixed her gaze to her bowl. "Nothing,"

"If you want to say something, spit it out," he insisted.

Kanda leaned his face on a closed fist, waiting for her to say something. This was rare. He was actually willing to listen, unlike most of the time; he either cut her off or brushed away topics she had brought up with him before. It was now or never.

"A-about last Friday night," she began, twisting her fingers as a sign of nervous habit.

"What about Friday night?" he blankly asked, frowning.

Curse his memory; he was making this more difficult for her.

"When it… stormed…" she supplied helpfully.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Get on with it,"

"Just… thank you… I guess…" she mumbled, face feeling a bit hot. Why was she blushing? "I didn't expect you to…"

"What?" Kanda sounded offended, crossing his arms. "You think I'm that heartless?"

"Well…no…" Yes actually, she did. "It's just not what I expected out of your character,"

"Then you don't know me at all," he concluded, shrugging. He looked at her with a bit of irritation. "Can we eat now?"

"I didn't stop you from eating," she huffed.

He responded with a roll of his eyes, like it was really her fault. Reiichi picked up her utensils again, this time eating with a bit more vigor due to the annoyance contributed by Kanda Yuu. It was only halfway through her meal that she realized the atmosphere had lapsed into something similar like they were at home, especially after he made some remark that ruffled her feathers.

_Then you don't know me at all._

That sentence was repeating in her head. It had already been a month since she knew him and they had spent a lot of time together, almost to the point of being in each other's company (although not by choice) every day. She had him pegged down as some arrogant prick before she knew him, but that perception changed slightly over the month. Yes he could still be, but he had his (almost) endearing moments.

"Next Monday," he suddenly said, cutting through their silence and her thoughts. "Stay at home,"

She nearly choked. "What? What for?"

"You owe me one, remember?" He replied, not giving up any explanation.

Reiichi nearly bent the spoon she was holding. Wasn't he the one who said he wasn't heartless? So why was he using that time as blackmail to do something for him? He could have just explained and asked. Nicely.

"The orphanage," Kanda grumbled and relieved a bad memory.

Oh. Well, she felt incredibly guilty now.

"You said you'd do _anything _for me," he plowed on, this time with a smirk on the extremely suggestive words he said.

She sulked, remembering those exact words she herself had said. "Fine," she conceded. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just stay at home," he repeated.

"To do what?" she asked again. Why can't he just spit it out? He was being difficult, again.

Kanda had begun to ignore her and eat his tempura.

"To clean your kitchen? Clean your pool? Clean the house?" she frowned. "Clean your sword?"

"Look, why does it matter so much?" he finally snapped.

She sighed. "I'm just curious,"

"Well, that stupid cat died because of that,"

"That's where you're wrong, Kanda," she pointed triumphantly at him. "Ignorance killed the cat. Curiosity was framed,"

"Whatever,"

He was still not going to divulge any details, she so decided to let it slip.

The main course was soon done and Reiichi's face lit up when the waiter came with her dessert. A strawberry and chocolate parfait - two of her preferred flavours in a dessert. She happily scooped the top part of the whip cream off, relishing the sudden sweetness that invaded her tongue.

Kanda was watching her with a mild bit of disgust.

"Stop giving that face, you're making me lose my appetite," she rebuked him.

"Then don't eat that disgusting thing," he insisted.

Nonetheless she took another mouthful of it. It was really really really good. The slight sourness of the strawberry and sweetness of the chocolate melded perfectly together, with the cold whip cream that melted in her mouth, it was nearly heaven. There were even other fruits cut into pretty shapes, decorating the entire dessert into a cutesy picture. It was almost too pretty to eat, but the taste was just begging for her to devour it all.

She looked at the man opposite her who looked like he was seriously sick. "Come on, try it," she scooped another spoon and offered it to him.

"No," he faked gagged.

"Just one spoon," she smirked, edging it closer to him. "You're a _man_, aren't you?"

Like fish to bait, Kanda snatched the spoon out of her hands and put it in his mouth and dragged it out. Suddenly it occurred to her that it was an indirect kiss, and she nearly slapped her forehead. It wasn't a big deal to share utensils for her, but if Lavi knew this, he would be rubbing it in their faces for the rest of their lives. Then again, if she did it with Lavi all the time and that could be counted as incest.

Eww.

Reiichi laughed as Kanda started to choke, and then at the half horrified half disgusted expression as he swallowed.

"Too sweet," he coughed out, immediately downing green tea to clear off the taste from his tongue. "Urgh,"

"Admit it," she took the spoon back and pointed it in his direction. "You just can't handle such awesome food,"

"No," he retorted. "Such food is obviously too low for my taste," he said, dignified. "Besides, presentation is important but that just makes me want to puke when I see it,"

Reiichi stared at the parfait. She didn't get him at all. A plate of cold soba was supposed to look better than this. Right.

"It's like blood, shit and cum together," he bluntly said, referring to the three colours of the dessert.

Reiichi dropped the spoon in shock. "Kanda!" she glared at him.

He raised an eyebrow. "You're not that innocent are you?" he looked at her suspiciously. "You do know what they are right?"

She scowled at the underlying insult. "Unfortunately, yes I do," she shoved the spoon back in, intending to finish the dessert off but his words... "I can't look at it in the same way ever again…" she groaned, pushing the cup away from her.

"Good," Kanda smirked and sat back, satisfied.

"Well mister, you just ate all three," she reminded him.

Now Kanda looked like really wanted to puke.

Reiichi snickered.

* * *

"Allen-chan…." Lavi stared sickened at the growing number of empty plates in front of him. "Would you take it down a notch?"

"Ermphh?" the white haired boy tried to say but he was too busy shoveling down food. He finally swallowed a few seconds later. "What?" he glanced at Lavi's half eaten plate. "Do you want that?"

"Nevermind," the redhead pushed his plate towards the other. "You can have it," he sighed, defeated.

Almost immediately, the pork katsu was gone within milliseconds. It was his fault that he asked Allen along, but that was because if he asked Lenalee, he would find himself skewered on a pole and hung out to be pecked by ravens, courtesy of her brother. But Allen was like a bottomless pit. A black hole. He knew the guy had an endless appetite but every time he witnessed it, he didn't get how all that food still translated to the short skinny boy.

He kept his shape by eating normally and occasionally working out or playing sports, Kanda kept his fabulous body from all that kendo, swimming and working out, but Allen's lean figure somehow stayed even though the boy's hobby was gambling poker. The world is unfair indeed.

It was also unfair, because he was the one who promised Allen that he'd be paying. It wasn't like he didn't have money but all the money spent wasn't for him or his darling cousin, he pouted. Indirectly, it was, he tried to cheer himself up. This was entirely necessary.

That was why he had his hair dyed black (non-permanent of course) and without his usual bandana to cover his eye patch, and he wore a black and grey ensemble, totally opposite from his colourful wardrobe. He was starting to think the colours of his clothes were sucking the happiness out of him. Allen was also in disguise, his hair dyed brown and scar covered as much as possible with foundation.

Lavi stared longingly in the direction of the private booth his best friend and cousin had entered thirty minutes ago. He wanted to spy on them, dammit.

"Why didn't you just reserve the normal tables?" Allen asked between his swallowing. "Your plan to stalk them is upmost futile,"

"Because of Yuu-chan," Lavi sulked. "All the girls will recognize him and try to get his attention and that would be a disaster,"

"That's probably the smartest thing you've done," the other commented after a while.

"Hey!" Lavi tried to swipe at Allen. "I do lots of smart things,"

"Um yeah," Allen nodded disbelievingly. "Like setting up this date for Reiichi and BaKanda which obviously," he emphasized. "Isn't going to work?"

"How so? It's brilliant," Lavi had to defend himself. "The forced company will give them time to think about how much they're in love with each other!"

Allen actually set down his fork to explain. "One, they eat dinner at home together all the time,"

"Two, BaKanda's range of romanticism is as much as a teaspoon," he said bluntly. "Or even less,"

"Ouch," Lavi clutched his heart in sympathy.

"Three, the only thing going for him is his face," Allen continued. "Four, Reiichi doesn't care for his face,"

"Five," he came to the last part. "_They aren't in love with each other_,"

Lavi kept silent and Allen thought his words finally hit home. "Moyashi-chan-," Lavi began after a while.

"The name is Allen," he corrected with a slight twitch in his eye.

"-You're jealous, aren't you?"

Allen nearly banged his head on the table. He took one stick of his mitarashi dango and chomped on it angrily. "I hope they never hook up," he muttered. "I hope all your stupid plans fail and backfire-"

"Alright, chill, I'm just playing ya," Lavi fanned him. "Don't curse my favourite couple,"

"Non-existent couple," Allen replied bitingly. "I feel so stupid trying to_ help_ you, god,"

"How's that helping me?" Lavi stopped in mid-fan, skeptical. "You've just been shooting down my match make plans-"

"Like playing seven minutes in heaven?" Allen snorted. "Spin the bottle? Truth or dare? Wink?"

"I love Wink," Lavi pouted.

"That's only because you are a kissing pervert," the other grumbled.

"You won't complain if it was Lena-chan right?" the redhead suddenly smirked, lowering his voice.

"N-no!" he denied, but the stuttering was inevitable. "Anyway this is about Kanda and Reiichi," he insisted. "Your plans will never get them together. I bet that they are going to walk out the restaurant the same way they walked in,"

"Well, I bet they'd be having some sort of _intense magnetic attraction_," Lavi declared.

Allen raised an eyebrow. He had no idea what Lavi was on, but it just meant he was winning another bet. Oh well. Better for him. They bickered over other things until Kanda's arrival was signaled by the way he stomped out of the private booth. Reiichi emerged seconds later behind him, rolling her eyes. They both ducked instinctively though it was not needed since the other two walked out without a single glance around.

"So what you do suggest, Dr Love?" Lavi huffed at the triumphant I-told-you-so look Allen was gloating with.

"Be subtle, Lavi, that's all I'm telling you," Allen said. "Use your own brain, genius boy,"

* * *

**Owari.**

Wink – it's a party game. Wiki it.

Hello hello it has been a long time! Actually I've been typing the chapter after chapter because I'm just bumming around at home now (no school YEAH), and I'm at chapter 22... But there are a few tweaks I need to give to some of the other un-uploaded chapters. It won't take long, hopefully...


	21. Chapter 20

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

"Kanda, what do you think?" Reiichi placed two papers side by side in front of him, each containing a different sketch for the _Greed_ design.

The model paused, looking at her disbelievingly. "You're actually asking me for my opinion," he noted sarcastically. "It's about damn time,"

Kanda was sitting on her workbench. The main reason why he was even in her workroom at all was to tell her they were leaving for lunch (Lavi was making himself busy by pretending to keep his camera equipment the damn bastard), but she had told him to wait a while for her to finish up the sketches.

The designer frowned. "Kanda…" she tapped her fingers to the papers to get his attention to the more important reason. "This, or this?"

The design on the paper on the right showed a person with long black hair (he guessed it was an attempt to draw him) on a throne-like chair with an elaborate outfit that glittered gold and expensive stones holding a skull. The outfit was done in a very traditional like emperor style, and there were at least three layers to it. The outermost layer caught his eye because the detailing on it was impressive for just a sketch. The other design on his right was more modern—it consisted of a soldier like white uniform, except the entire front, shoulder and cuffs were studded with crystals. The black long pants completed the image of a tin man – one white strip down the side of each leg.

"Concept?" he demanded professionally, musing over them with a critical eye.

"This one," Reiichi went to stand next to him and pointed to the paper on his right. "This one is a simple idea. I went with the idea of a ruthless conquering emperor. It's definitely greed if the emperor partakes on a conquest to expand his territory at the expense of his subjects. So you see all the gold and precious stones are the wealth he acquired from his greed, but the skull represents how that obsessive-ness kills everyone around him,"

"The other one is a little abstract," she continued to explain. "The idea that 'greed' stems from 'want', but it's difficult to differentiate between 'wants' and 'needs'. Things that you need are basic, thus the plain crisp outfit. However if you want something so much that it becomes disguised as a 'need', the drive to fulfil the 'need' becomes 'greed'. So the crystal studded suit is meant to show the underlying truth of 'greed' that has been infused with the supposed plain concept of 'need'," she finished.

When Kanda just stared at the papers wordlessly, she thought he'd lost her. "Did you get it? Or do you want me to explain again?"

He kept silent for a while. "Which one do you like better?" he finally asked her.

Reiichi blinked. "I was asking about your opinion, not mine,"

"Just answer me," he was stubbornly insistent.

"I'm not sure, that's why I'm asking you to choose between the two," she answered back.

"Che," Kanda faced her, irritated. "You're useless,"

She looked at him incredulously. First, the man complains when she makes something that he doesn't like, and now he was still complaining when she was giving him a choice.

He pinched the bridge of his nose at her expression. "Look, it's your interpretation. If you think greed to you is the really clichéd explanation you gave me for that," he pointed at the first one, "Then you make that. If not, you choose the other one,"

That was his not so subtle way of stating his preferences. He could have just said it in much simpler way, she huffed. Reiichi was about to retort but the door to the room they were in slammed open with much vigour.

"Yuu-chan, what are you doing to Rei-chan hmm?" The rabbit waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "It doesn't take ten minutes to get her out of the room,"

Kanda grabbed the nearest sharp and pointy object which was her pencil and aimed it at Lavi.

"Hey—" Reiichi didn't have enough time to stop him from throwing it. "You'll break the lead!"

Her cousin pouted after he straightened up from dodging the incoming missile. "You should be more worried about _me_ than the _pencil_," he whined.

That was on Tuesday, before their so called dinner date. Today was Friday, the day of the official shoot.

The Asian model was sitting in the makeup chair with Fou working on his hair. Reiichi had ordered it to be tied up, and Fou was doing a complex series of twists and turns to get his insanely long hair into a bun without using any hair ties or clips.

"Woman, hurry it up," he snapped.

He was so sure his makeup artist was taking a ridiculously long time because she liked to touch his hair which was smooth and silky and almost unnatural (but it was natural). Hey, he liked to touch his own hair too, but she was practically molesting it.

Fou rapped his head hard, earning a hiss and a string of curses directed at her. She was unfazed. "I'm just trying to take off your _wig_—"

"It's real dammit—oww! Stop pulling, fucker!"

She was enjoying his pain, the sadist.

They were perhaps taking too long, because the door opened. Both of them were expecting Reiichi to enter in who had gone to settle the set, but instead it was her cousin. The red head poked his head through a small gap in the room.

"Whoa, you look like Michael Jackson, except your nose is real," Lavi stared at the model in the chair.

Kanda swiped the can of hairspray on the dressing table and chucked it at him. "What are you saying? My entire face is real,"

To Kanda's dismay (again), his outfit garnered more annoying comments. On the paper sketch it looked okay, but he didn't think exactly what image Reiichi was picturing until he wore it and looked in the mirror. She had envisioned an ensemble that was very much influenced by the King of Pop. The pants especially, she had purposely cut the lengths of the pants shorter to expose his ankles—a trend set no doubt by the famed singer.

Lavi came in, the door behind him closed with a click that Kanda knew to regret.

"So, Yuu," his friend came to stand behind him, grinning at his reflection in the mirror. "How was your date?"

This would be about the nth time Lavi was asking this since Tuesday.

"Fuck you—"

"Pretty boy, you went on a date?" Fou stopped in the midst of her work to stare at the model incredulously. "You actually went on a date?" she repeated disbelievingly.

Oh shit. Kanda had forgotten Fou hadn't heard about Lavi's latest scheme.

"I know it's hard to believe," Lavi swung an arm over Fou. "But Yuu has entered the age of men," he announced proudly.

"Usagi—"

"Was she hot?" Fou smirked, immediately going down to the details. "Blonde? Brunette? Red? What are her measurements?"

"Woman—"

"Damn, I didn't know you had it in you to bring a girl out on a date," she whistled, oblivious to the darkening expression on Kanda's face. "I thought one night stands fitted better with you,"

"IT WASN'T A DATE!" Kanda snapped finally.

"Aww, Yuu-chan, don't be in denial although that's pretty cute—"

Lavi didn't know how, but he found himself in a headlock with Kanda's arms dangerously threatening to break his neck.

"So who was the lucky girl?" Fou ploughed on, interested. "Or should I say, unlucky?"

"It was (wheeze)..Rei-chan.." the photographer coughed from the lack of oxygen as Kanda strangled him.

Fou paused. Then she started to laugh hysterically, even stepping back to clutch her stomach as she resisted the urge to roll on the floor.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha—" she was nearly crying now.

Lavi and Kanda stared at the mad woman till she calmed down about a full minute later. When she saw that neither of them was joking, she straightened her expression that threatened to burst into another round of laughter.

"You and the missy?" she raised an eyebrow at the affronted model. "What did you do? Bribe her? Went down on your knees and _begged_—"

Kanda's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Fuck, as if I'd ever do that!" he shouted resentfully at her. "_She_ should be begging _me_—"

"Who would beg you?" Reiichi crossed her arms at the now open doorway, amused at the trio who suddenly turned to her with guilty stricken expressions, except for Kanda who looked more furious then anything. She didn't really hear their conversation except for Kanda's last line, but now she was a tad bit curious. "What are you guys doing?"

Fou coughed almost delicately to break the uneasy tension when the males didn't want to offer any answers. She tucked in the last bit of Kanda's loose hair into his mass of hair. "Done," she patted Kanda's shoulder patronisingly, earning a growl from the other. "He's ready now," she grinned at Reiichi, sporting a thumbs up. Reiichi raised an eyebrow at the awkward change in topic that confirmed her suspicions—they were talking about her. Nonetheless, she let it slide.

"Rei-chan~" Lavi had broken the hold Kanda had on him and bounded up next to her. "Ready on your side?"

Reiichi smiled. "Yeah, we've been waiting for a while actually," she walked up to her model who was still in the chair and placed a white hat with a black band she was holding onto his head.

Swiftly, she tucked in any loose strands underneath the head accessory, taking in how he looked at the moment. She was so used to his infamous long hair that it was a bit of a shock to see him look as though his hair was short. She had thought he'd look weird actually, but surprisingly he still pulled it off.

Of course, what was she saying?

He was _Kanda Yuu_.

* * *

"_You've been hit by_

_You've been hit by_

_A smooth criminal,"_

The photographer was singing to his heart's content, and he didn't care if he was totally out of tune. Once he had gotten stuck on MJ transposed on Kanda, the image was difficult to remove. It really didn't help when Kanda in his model talent was oozing the hot shot aura.

"God, shut up the hell up," Kanda paused to wince when Lavi started on another song.

"'_Cause this is Thriller— _

_Thriller night—"_

Lavi's voice broke when he reached the high key, much to the other's aggravation to his poor abused ears.

"Lavi," Reiichi sighed heavily from her position next to Allen at the back. "I know you can sing so stop that awful rendition,"

Allen nodded furiously, eyes begging him to stop making noises that sounded like a strangling cat. "You're insulting the greatest artiste of all time," he rebuked.

"Fine," the red head pouted as he knelt down to take another shot.

The set this time was quite simple. It was just a makeshift stage and a microphone stand, as if Kanda really was the famed singer. Reiichi quite liked the simplicity. Less was more, because it allowed the crystals on the uniform to shine.

"Any requests from the floor?" Lavi asked enthusiastically behind his camera.

The rest of the photography crew shifted uneasily under the hard glare Kanda was daring them with. _Talk and you die_ was the main message.

Unfortunately there were people immune to his glares. "Billie Jean, Red," Fou snickered as Kanda resisted the urge to storm off the set.

"Ooh, Billie Jean," the singer agreed happily. "Now, how does it go—_Billie Jean is not my lover,"_

He crooned and snapped his fingers in beat again, this time thankfully in his normal voice.

"_She's just a girl who claims that I am the one—_

_But the kid is not my son_

_She says I am the one—_

_But the kid is not my son,"_

To Reiichi's surprise, the white haired boy beside her joined in the next verse.

"_People always told me, be careful of what you do," _Allen harmonised with her cousin._ "And don't go around breaking young girl's hearts—"_

Lavi looked back at them to grin, pointing at Reiichi to join in too. "Come on!"

"_She came and stood right by me_

_Then the smell of sweet perfume_

_This happened much too soon,"_

Allen nudged her in mid song, smiling widely. Oh fine.

"_She called me to her room_," she joined, and now the three of them were holding the melody in the air.

"_Billie Jean is not my lover_

_She's just a girl who claims that I am the one—_

_But the kid is not my son_

_Billie Jean is not my lover_

"_She's just a girl who claims that I am the one—_

_But the kid is not my son,"_

It became an impromptu MJ karaoke session, much to Kanda's growing irritation and displeasure. He couldn't really say that their voices were bad because they were singing in tune, but he didn't like music in general. To make it worse, he knew all the songs they were singing because Lavi and he did something related in their high school, so he couldn't tune them all off. Yes he did try to scream at them but it was four people to one: he was losing, and badly at that.

"Hey, Yuu," Lavi suddenly remembered something at the end of one of their songs. "Do that crotch grabbing thing,"

Kanda glared. "What?"

"You know," his friend was gesturing his free hand wildly in the air. "The dance we did for senior prom—"

"Fuck, no," the model immediately put in before the other could continue.

"Aww come on," the photographer prodded. "It was hot. You remember Yamaguchi Yumi? She fainted when you did that,"

"Ba-Kanda… danced?" Allen was coughing, not so discreetly hiding his laughter.

"Well, I had to bribe him of course," Lavi frowned, and then brightened up. "But it was totally worth it. Remind me to show you the pictures I got—"

"I thought I _burned _those pictures," Kanda muttered angrily.

"Yuuuuuuuuuu~~~~" Lavi whined. "_Just beat it—Beat it_—"

"I mean it, Lavi," Kanda told him seriously, face blank.

Apparently that worked better than any of Kanda's killer glares, because Lavi dropped the topic like a hot potato. Suddenly the upbeat atmosphere plummeted. It was like when Kanda was angry it was normal, but when he was neutrally serious, hell was freezing over. It was weird. Reiichi glanced around to see that even Allen and Fou reacted the same way, both of them dropping the teasing smirks that were on their faces just a moment ago.

It was all quiet, and Kanda nearly smiled at that (except Kanda didn't smile). Finally, he could concentrate on his work. He knew Lavi thought he was probably upset or something, but in truth he just wanted to make it clear that there was no way in hell he was going to do anything that remotely reminded him of the senior prom dance. No, he was shooting that memory into in oblivion now.

Kanda grabbed the microphone with both hands, bringing it closer to his lips. Through half lidded eyes, he noted with much satisfaction that everyone couldn't take their eyes off him now. He ran a tongue over the microphone for fun, enjoying the scandalised expression Allen was making.

"Last photo, Yuu," Lavi broke the unnatural tension with a neutral voice. "Ready?"

Kanda nodded, hand raised to trace the edge of his hat. Reiichi looked on, curious. It was like both of them communicated wordlessly, because it seemed like both of them were anticipating something.

"Go," the photographer whispered.

The Asian model swiped the hat off in one swift motion, flexing his neck to let his hair fall naturally down. Lavi was busy pressing the capture button so fast that the clicks from his camera did not seem to match with his finger actions. It was like watching a hair commercial—Kanda's hair was undeniably one of his strong selling points. The dark satin curtain practically floated down in slow motion, finally framing his oriental face delicately. Haughty midnight blue eyes were piercing enough to keep everyone watching agape.

Reiichi didn't know she was so enraptured until Kanda shifted his gaze towards her general direction and smirked. She wasn't sure if that was directed to her or Allen, because the younger boy was glaring back with a sour face.

"Ugh, I have to _touch _that microphone," Allen despaired. "The germs from his mouth…"

* * *

"ARE YOU READY?" A rock singer clad in tight leather, hair spiked and mascara lined eyes screamed into the microphone.

Thousands of raving fans screamed in response, hands up in the air and jumping with excitement. The hoots and cheers were non-stop, and the noise was deafening. Blue lightsticks clutched in very fan hands waved eagerly, lighting up the entire Tokyo Dome like a blue ocean.

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" The other singer on stage with blonde hair shouted back to the audience. "I SAID ARE YOU READY?"

The shrieks and whistles went up a notch, if that was even possible.

Reiichi stood at the side of the stage, wide eyed with excitement. She was not an insane raving fangirl kind of fan, but she was excited all the same. It was her first time hearing Debitto and Jasdero sing _live_.

It was a very big deal.

She appreciated all kind of music—a large genre that ranged from classical to pop to even a bit of heavy metal. Other than lyric-less classical pieces or instrumental soundtracks, what really mattered in music was the _voice _of the singer. She knew for a fact through their tracks in her ipod that Debitto and Jasdero were amazing singers of unique tones and able to reach an incredible range of pitch. It was the kind of voice that made goose bumps on your skin. On fansites, it was said they were even better live.

She had high expectations.

The audience had not stopped screaming, and Jasdero waved a lazy hand towards their keyboardist and a familiar tune started. A drumbeat joined in after a short while, and fans yelled in approval, already anticipating the song that was playing. Debitto entered in with his base guitar, rocking to the beat.

"_The livelong day—_

_There's a voice in my cry—_

_Growing like fire_

_It brings scorn to my smile—"_

Jasdero begun, voice as smooth as silk as he crooned into the microphone. The audience went silent the moment his voice pierced the air, and all of them marvelled at the way the music floated in the dome. Almost immediately, Reiichi shivered as his voice chilled her entire body with awe.

"_Time lengthens the night—_

_And shortens the day—_

_The ghost I host_

_Don't seem to go away—"_

The blonde kept his voice in perfect pitch throughout his verses, keeping in rhythm even as he worked his electric guitar to the song he wrote with his twin.

"_I've got my reasons—_

_To burn the world—"_

Debitto took over, voice huskier and deeper than his brother's.

"_Reasons all my own_

_A stitch by which I'm attached_

_To this world of bone—"_

There were no words to describe how they sang. It was dizzying and overwhelming as their voices harmonised to perfection. The small blue lights in the audience waved in synchrony with the count of the music. It felt unbelievable. She was really watching them live.

"_A day for ghosts…" _The twins whispered, ending the first song with an eerie silence.

The entire concert hall stood in stunned stillness. A second later, the stadium erupted into applause and screams again, this time louder than ever.

The raven haired singer grinned, raising a hand in acknowledgement. Soon the noise subsided and he addressed them all. "Thank you, thank you," he beamed, latching on to his twin at the side. "Welcome to our concert, y'll –!"

Jasdero snatched the microphone out of Debitto's hands. "We're not gonna do the introductory thing because you guys know who we are," Fans hooted and clapped. Debitto wrestled the mic back and to the delight of the mostly female crowd, purred in a low sexy voice. "Obviously,"

Reiichi smiled and shook her head laughingly, knowing that Debitto's character was more cutesy than sexy. As if they had some telepathic connection, he turned discreetly towards her direction and winked. Jasdero whacked his twin's head in response, earning screams from the fans.

"Alright, we're gonna give you what you came here for," Jasdero smirked, and the shouts increased. "The second song of the night," he announced, readying himself by placing both hands on the microphone.

"_Whatever the prophecy—"_ the blonde's voice cut through the air in upmost clarity. "_Whatever the prosperity—"_

Drums, guitars and keyboard entered simultaneously, and the complex instrumental introduction played. The melody was blending into the night air like magic.

"_Heaven denied us its kingdom—"_

Jasdero continued, silky voice charming the crowd.

"_Tell me where we've gone wrong_

_Oh, fortitude_

_I do like you—_

_But I only speak when spoken to—"_

Debitto smirked, mouth to the microphone ready for his verse.

"_Heaven forgive, the mess I meant—"_

His twin glanced back at him with a grin.

"_Temperence, why do I cast_

_Your prudence to the wind—"_

The chemistry between the twins was amazing. It was like they knew each other so well that they were communicating on an entirely different level.

"_I am a nightmare_

_Haunting you—"_

The raven haired singer screamed, and the audience were jumping wildly.

"_I steal away your sleep_

_A poison running through your veins—_

_A wound, that always bleeds—"_

Reiichi just watched, lips slightly parted. Debitto was one of the rare singers who were versatile enough to handle most genres. He did screamo really well.

"_Call it love, call it lust," _Jasdero sang. "_Luxuria, my enemy_—" he held his pitch, voice reaching to incredible heights. "_Whatever the prophecy—"_

"_(Let it be, Let it be—)" _ Debitto crooned softly like an echo.

"_We'll live all there is to live—"_

"_(Be it pleasure, be it sorrow—)"_

"_Whatever the prosperity—"_

"_(Lies in me, Lies in me—)"_

"_I'll be all that I can be—"_

Both of them harmonised at the ending to rousing applause. "_My forever starts to tomorrow—"_

* * *

When it was intermission, backstage got busy. Reiichi fussed over the zipper on Debitto's front that wouldn't zip up. Just a few more seconds and they were back on. It was extremely hectic, first making both of them strip as quickly as possible, and then getting them to put on the outfits that she made. On top of that, they were both trying to gulp down much needed water whilst tuning their guitars. It was a good thing there were many backstage people about to settle the other props of their concert.

Ten seconds later and they were back on stage, waving enthusiastically back to the thousands of screaming fans. Reiichi watched with pride as both of them slung an arm over another, just standing to let the screams die out before they attempted to address the audience.

Debitto smirked, lifting the microphone to his lips. "What do you think?" he asked the audience, gesturing down his body length.

Both of them twirled, showing off how lace, leather and feathers complimented him. Apparently, thundering screams that resulted were an approval. Jasdero glanced to Reiichi at the side of the stage hidden by the curtains and gave discreet thumbs up. The raven haired singer winked at her.

Debitto high fived his twin, and they got down to business—the second half of the concert. "One, two, a one, two, three—GO!"

"We've come to the end of our concert," Debitto announced, earning a simultaneous groan from the audience. "But before we go on with our _normal _lives," to that Debitto snickered, no doubt an inside joke he shared with Jasdero. "We've prepared one last song for our dear sister, who has done an _amazing _job with our outfits,"

Jasdero suddenly ran towards Reiichi and grabbed her, pulling her on stage. The stage lights immediately blinded her, and she shielded her eyes with her hands reflexively. It was only when whistles emitted from the mass of people she was standing in front of then she realised what exactly standing on stage with Jasdevi meant.

It was overwhelming, the heat of the lights, the screams from the audience, the fact that she was standing with ridiculously famous singers—but there wasn't much time to revel in it, because the instrumentals of the new song started, and Reiichi found herself tapping along with the rhythm unconsciously. This was one of their most famous songs from another album, and of course she knew this song by heart.

"_Far away—"_ Debitto sang first, his powerful vocals resonating in the entire hall. "_This ship is taking me far away—"_

"_Far away from the memories—"_ Jasdero continued, voice in a perfect complement to his brother's. _"Of the people who care if I live or die—"_

"_Starlight—"_

"_I will be chasing the starlight—_

_Until the end of my life—_

_I don't know if it's worth it anymore—"_

Both of them were grinning at her as they sang, never breaking eye contact. It was one thing to hear them live, and another for them to sing specially to you. Reiichi was starting to blush from all the attention she was receiving, but she could not deny that it was one hell of an experience.

"_My life— You electrify my life—"_ Jasdero got down on one knee, hand gripping hers as he sang, earning screams from the audience. "_Let's conspire to ignite—All the souls that would die just to feel alive—"_

"_Hold—"_ Debitto wouldn't stand to be outdone, of course. He brushed a soft hand across her cheek, tucking a stray hair behind her ear, eliciting cat calls. _"You in my arms—I just wanted to hold—You in my arms—"_

"_I just wanted to hold—"_ they left the note hanging.

It was beautiful, and her heart just thumped faster.

* * *

Kanda sat ridiculously bored in his car. It was total silence since he hated any kind of music (he would never admit it but he found classical the most tolerable thanks to Tiedoll) and past hour just _sitting _was cramping up his legs. He couldn't get out because there was a likely fangirl ready to pounce on him in public, so he'd rather suffer alone then suffer in a place where everyone could see.

What exactly was he doing?

Good question. He was asking himself more of that every day. Currently, he was waiting outside Jasdevi's concert hall. The model attributed it to the fact that Lavi had grown more annoying over the past month.

Kanda had reached home pretty late to find Lavi sprawled over his couch like he owned the place (nothing new there) and helping himself to the bento Kanda made for dinner for _himself_ – that resulted in a near death session for the photographer who stole his food. He was hungry and he didn't want to cook. Throughout their bickering, somehow Lavi let drop that he promised Rei that Kanda would fetch her home after the Noah concert. The last thing Kanda remembered was that he found himself pushed out of his own house with the front door locked in his face.

The nerve of his so called best friend.

It had been exactly one hour since he reached here and he was getting extremely irritated with a hungry stomach. Firstly, Rei would know better than to keep him waiting. Secondly, he should have just gone to eat first. Thirdly, why did he even bother to listen to Lavi? It was probably another set up .

He felt played.

Five more minutes, and he would drive off. Fuck Lavi.

It was towards the end of the forth minute that he spied the familiar red hair that shone beneath the moonlight coming out of the doors of the stadium. The two Noah twins were walking beside her almost like bodyguards, and they were all laughing at something in particular.

He waited for _this_?

Kanda swung his front door open violently. "Rei," he snapped loudly enough for the group across the street to hear him.

Reiichi paused, turning her head to find the source of voice. Eventually she found him scowling darkly, leaning against his car.

"…Kanda?" she titled her head in confusion, but she quickened her pace. "Why are you here?"

He merely nudged his head towards his car. "You're goddamn late,"

The Noah twins grabbed her arms before she could go any closer to Kanda. "We're going to eat, remember?" Debitto blinked forlornly, with an almost innocent expression on his face. "You promised us," Jasdero added, pout already forming.

Reiichi looked back and forth Kanda and Jasdevi. One pair was practically begging her with their eyes, while the other looked like he wanted to drag her to hell. It was true that she already agreed to eat supper with them both, but Kanda… wait. Why was he even here?

Seeing her hesitation, he stalked up to them, crossing his arms. Debitto and Jasdevi were sticking their tongues at him behind Rei, and it really boiled his veins. Fucking Noah – all of them were the same.

His eyes narrowed. "So you'd rather spend the night with raven and blondie here,"

"They have names, Kanda," she frowned. "Anyway we_ were_ supposed to go out and eat before you came,"

At that, Kanda's look soured even more. Damn Lavi, damn Rei, damn those Noah. He had just wasted one hour—one precious hour—of which he could have eaten, yet he came here out of the rare _goodness of his heart_, and was told it was not needed. His fist tightened.

"Fine," he spat, grounding his heel roughly, turning around and stormed back to his car.

Reiichi wanted to let him go and sulk whatever issues he was having out, but there was this strong stab of pain in her heart that told her this was entirely her fault, even if she didn't really get why.

Before she knew it, she was trying to call him back. "Kanda! " she scowled when he obviously heard her but ignored her. "Kanda!"

"What?" he hissed angrily, hand on his car door. "Weren't you going with those fucking Noah?"

"Will you stop with the prejudice against the Noahs?" she almost shouted, getting sick of his biasedness.

"Why?" Kanda cocked his head patronisingly. "The whole family is fucked up. Just like that Portuguese creep who just wants to get into your pants—"

"Debitto and Jasdero are _nothing _like Tyki Mikk," Reiichi cut in forcefully.

"But I was right about Mikk, wasn't I?" he had to add smugly. "You didn't listen, so you lost your precious first kiss—"

At this point, Reiichi was fuming. It was a low brow to bring up that incident when they knew what a sensitive topic it should be. "Since when did you care?" she hissed dangerously. "That has nothing to do with you and it never will,"

"You're right," Kanda finally said, "I _don't _care,"

He got into his car and revved the engine, driving off, leaving Reiichi to stand stunned watching his car disappear around a turn. It felt like something in her gut dropped, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. She covered her eyes, trying to cool herself down. It would be so pathetic if she started crying because them fighting wasn't really a big deal – but she felt like it nonetheless.

"Reiichi?" A hand was on her shoulder each. "He's an ass and you know it," one of the twins was saying.

Hearing that didn't really make her feel any better.

"Sorry guys, I…" she sighed heavily. "I'm not really hungry anymore,"

Debitto and Jasdero shared a look. It was one of those girl-is-upset moments they witnessed with Lulubell and they knew she just wanted to be alone for a while. "We'll try that dessert café some other time, no sweat," Jasdero patted her back consolingly.

She nodded with a fake half smile as the twins waved good bye to her. Once they were out of sight, she trudged to the pavement and sat down on the edge. Fumbling the phone out of her pocket, she called the one person who was always stable in her life.

"Rei-chan, what's up? Yuu is there to fetch you—"

"I know,"

Maybe it was the tone of her voice, because Lavi knew where this conversation was heading towards.

"Did you guys fight?"

"…Yeah,"

"What it is this time?"

"Kanda, he— he…" she sucked in a deep breath. "He just kept insulting Debitto and Jasdero… I mean, just because they're Noah doesn't mean they're all bad…and it really got on my nerves because they've been nothing but nice to me and he just… just…" she faltered off.

"Mmm hmm.."

"Then he brought up that Mikk thing which I am trying really hard to forget but urghhhh," she gripped the scalp of her head. "Kanda just drove off without me, by the way,"

"Firstly," Lavi advised her, "Relax that fist you're gripping tight enough to punch Yuu,"

She discovered that she was balling her left fist up and reluctantly let it loose.

"Done?"

"Yes,"

"Good girl," he sounded like he wanted to pet her. "Now listen. The Noah family haven't exactly been very… courteous to us. They have a history of pretending to be innocent, but that is their façade. Yuu is just trying to protect you except he's just not very subtle with words—"

"Lavi," she cut him off, feeling that there was something wrong with what he was trying to say. "There's no reason for him to act this way. If it was you, I'd understand, but Kanda—" she stopped short.

"Rei-chan…" Lavi sighed. "He's human, you know? He feels. Don't tell me all that time spent together really meant nothing to you,"

She could have taken what he was saying the wrong way, but it was undeniable that quality time spent together always built relationships, be it platonic or romantic.

"What are you trying to say?" she finally asked.

"Current example: he waited about an hour for you,"

"I did not ask him to fetch me home—" she was still indignant.

"But it doesn't change anything, does it?" Lavi cut her off bluntly. "He went to find you nonetheless,"

Reiichi kept silent, not knowing what to say or to even think.

"Just stay where you are," Lavi said after a while. "I'll come find you,"

* * *

**Owari.**

This chapter is almost like a songfic…I ran out of verbs to replace the word 'sing' after a while XD I believe I could have expanded a bit more on this chapter but my muse had ran away and is prodding at chapter 22... so I found myself unable to write anymore. (excuses, excuses...)

I am not really a big fan of MJ, so to all the MJ fans out there, forgive me if I typed something offending. I almost made Kanda sing _Beat It_, but I decided that would be too OOC for Kanda to _sing_, though it would have been funny.

Jasdevi's concert:

The first song is _A Day For Ghosts_ and the second song is _Virtue and Vice_, both by **Delain**. The last song is _Starlight _by **Muse**. These songs were actually from a DGM Fanmix... Initially I wanted to use Japanese songs like _Imitation Black_ (yes, the story name) from **Vocaloid** but typing romaji lyrics annoys me a bit because it kills the flow of the fic and the english translations aren't singable...

I've never really been to a concert, much less a rock concert, so this is all purely imaginative. Unless you count_ Hillsongs, Florence and the Machine, The XX_ or _JYJ_'s showcase… For _Florence_ and _XX_, I was in a theatre hall (no moshing obviously) and the showcase we had rules to not stand up…

Gah I have been making Kanda too nice D:


	22. Chapter 21

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

Lavi brought her back to his apartment, the one he still shared with Bookman. Granted, he was filthy rich if he did say so himself, and the old man had a ridiculous amount of money in his bank account that was never touched because he didn't know how to _live life_—but they were still living in a tiny old space. Of course, many would wonder why he didn't move out since he was legal and all that.

There were reasons.

Firstly, the old man was Bookman. It wasn't _just_ a surname. In fact, it wasn't supposed to be a surname, like how he had adopted it. 'Bookman' was a title. 'Bookman' was being part of a clan that recorded down history and kept the archives in museums growing. Because history was an important component of any national identity, as Bookman, they were valued highly. But precisely because it involved governments and politics and the like, they were sworn to secrecy on many things that they documented. It was just easier for both of them to leave all their work in one place, rather than risk Lavi losing some papers if he brought his share of work to and fro.

Why the old man hadn't thought of buying them a bigger (and cooler) place to live in, that, was beyond Lavi's understanding.

And thus the place was too small for any parking space available hence he couldn't own a car (not that he couldn't wheedle a free ride from Kanda anyway). Could anyone blame him if he practically lived in Kanda's place as long as the old man wasn't nagging him to translate some weird language for some government?

Reiichi stepped over the piles and piles of written and typed documents that littered the entire place as both of them fumbled in the dark. The lights suddenly flickered on, and both of them blinked, trying to adjust their vision. Bookman was leaning against a doorframe, one eyebrow raised.

"Just what are you two doing?"

Lavi grinned and raised his hands up guilty. "Hey, you ain't asleep yet, panda? The dark circles around your eyes are getting darker you know," he continued to ramble, oblivious to the growing irritation of the elder."It's like, they're so dark, light cannot escape—"

"Good evening, Reiichi," Bookman turned to her instead, ignoring his ward. "What brings you here?"

Although there was no hint of disapproval in his voice, Reiichi knew she wasn't supposed to be here. There was just no place for her to chat and drink tea, since the dining table was literally paper covered, much less to spend the night.

"Yuu happened," Lavi cut in, saving her from any explanation.

Bookman 'tsk'ed, sighing in resignation. "Tiedoll's boy never learns, does he? " He turned to go back to the study room he was cooping himself in before the duo entered, but paused. "Idiot," he addressed Lavi, "Don't move anything off the couch,"

The said couch was a table for their stacks of papers.

"Aww, man!" the other whined, but it was futile. The door closed on both of their faces.

Lavi sighed, but pulled her to his room. It was really really tiny, just a work desk that was full of books and papers, a bookshelf that was threatening to break from all the books he stuffed it with, his closet and his bed that was smaller than single size. Both of them weren't going to fit on it.

Reiichi gripped his hand tighter. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"Hey, it's alright," he hugged her close. "I've got Bookman business to do anyway," he pulled back to rummage through his closet and handed her a change of clothes.

She trooped off to the common toilet outside his room and changed into the comfortable oversized shirt and drawstring pants he gave her. When she returned, Lavi was at his desk scribbling something furiously, head bobbing to music that was plugged in to his ears. She had stayed in his room before, but that was many years ago, when they were both much smaller and able to squeeze together.

But it was definitely impossible now.

She slid beneath the sheets, eyelids closing involuntarily as she realized just how tired she was. The adrenaline that was coursing through her veins during the concert had drained a lot of her energy and that little fight she had with Kanda didn't help either.

Before she knew it, sleep claimed her.

* * *

Sunlight didn't wake Reiichi up, because the only window in the room was a really pathetic one that was never opened, and curtains were never drawn. It was the sound of Lavi falling off the chair that jolted her awake. She blinked, trying wave the sleepiness away as her head turned to the sudden sound.

Her cousin groaned in pain, stumbling over his own feet and holding the desk for support as he helped himself up. She sat up immediately, blanket pooling around her waist. She managed to grab his arm because the room was really that small, and tugged him over to sit beside her.

"I'm soooo 'ired…" Lavi snuggled next to her, head falling to her lap as he wiggled into a comfortable position.

"You should have woke me up," she chided, eyes roaming to find a clock.

_10 34 a.m._

"'Didn't wanna wake you.." he mumbled.

They stayed like that for about a minute when Lavi suddenly shot up, realizing something, but he clutched his head as the stress from staying awake all night rushed to his brain. "Urghh.."

"I think you better sleep," Reiichi got off the bed to push him in, but he tried to resist.

"I have to bring something to Yuu—"

"Whatever it is, he won't die—"

"You don't understand, Yuu needs—"

"He can surely wait—"

"No he—"

"Lavi," Reiichi frowned, with a bit of residue anger from yesterday. "If Kanda really needs whatever it is, he can get it himself,"

"He can't!" her cousin was frantic. "I sort of ate his dinner yesterday and I have no idea if he ate anything at all because he went to fetch you first, and then he wouldn't have ate this morning either so he really needs to eat lunch which I am supposed to bring it over to him—"

She blinked, his rushed words just passing over her head. "Could you… slow down a bit?"

Lavi breathed in deeply. "Yuu's at the beach for an _O Neill_ shoot," he explained slowly. "It starts in the morning, so he can't eat breakfast or that'll spoil his body shape. I'm supposed to bring him lunch,"

"Doesn't his shoot last throughout the day?" she furrowed her eyebrows. "By right he shouldn't eat at all…"

"Fruits, Rei-chan," he stared at her. "Models do need to eat you know,"

"He can drive out right?"

"Yuu has _pride_," he slumped back down to the bed, feeling more comfortable by the second. "If the shoot lasts all day, he'll stick to the shooting location all day. It's his job,"

"I just wanna sleeeeppppppp…." Lavi whined, tossing about on his bed. "But I've gotta bring him food or he'll dieee…"

That was definitely an exaggeration, but Reiichi felt guilt growing in her anyway. It was her fault that she hogged his bed last night. If she had gone home, Lavi would have slept and then there wouldn't have been this problem in the first place. She knew she should be offering to do this little errand for him but…

But Kanda.

Just thinking of his name was starting to make her remember their little spat yesterday. She still didn't want to see him. Suddenly she realized the room was too quiet and she looked down. Lavi had his eyes closed, breathing in a slow rhythmic manner. She prodded him, but he was already dead to the world. Sighing, she knew she had no other choice.

She could do this small thing for her cousin, she supposed, but it didn't mean that she would like it.

It turned out to be more than just a small thing.

Reiichi cabbed back home after changing back to her previous day's clothes. She allowed herself to enjoy the hot water cascading down her form as she scrubbed herself clean. It was nearly noon when she finally decided to stop procrastinating and opened the fridge. To her irritation, the fridge had no fruits whatsoever. So she had to make a small stop to the supermarket to get some fruits. Then she realized she didn't know what kind of fruits Kanda liked.

To be safe, she chose the usual choices—apples, pears and oranges. She was half tempted to buy him one watermelon and be done with that, but she wasn't going to lug the heavy fruit home. She almost headed to the beach with the fruits in the plastic bag but then she realized that she should cut the fruits, so she headed back home again.

It was only when she was peeling the second apple that she paused.

Why was she peeling the fruits? Why did she even come back to cut the fruits? She could have just given him the entire bag. He could bite them raw.

But she was halfway through this, so she might as well peel all of them. The kitchen was unbearably silent as she moved to peel the pears now.

_He's human, you know? He feels. _

Reiichi frowned as Lavi's voice flitted through her head.

_Don't tell me all that time spent together really meant nothing to you._

It was all coming back now. Once it started, it wasn't going to stop. She had purposefully blanked her mind yesterday after their conversation to stop thinking because it didn't make sense to her. She kept it all under a tight lock so that she could sleep in peace and not be haunted by that incessant feeling of _something_ that kept tugging at her heart. She had forced herself to be busy with other thoughts, like various drafts she had in mind for Anita's _Valentino_ showcase. But it was all coming back now.

_But it doesn't change anything, does it? He went to find you nonetheless._

What was she supposed to think about that? If Lavi was right, then it meant that he was being _nice_. Yes, okay, she admitted to herself that he could be nice, sometimes. But usually it was when he had no choice, or that the situation was to his advantage.

_Current example: he waited about an hour for you._

An hour was unthinkable. Kanda was someone who hated waiting as much as he hated tardiness, she knew first hand. The fact that he was taking the initiative to fetch her and then waiting…

_He feels._

Maybe he really cared. But he wasn't Lavi, and no one but Lavi would do something like that for her unless…

Maybe…maybe…

He maybe sort of _liked _her.

Reiichi paused at the sudden thought, suddenly realising that she was peeling mindlessly and that she was wasting a good bit of the pear.

No. That was stupid. That was merely self flattering to assume. As much as she didn't really care for his top model status, she knew he was totally out of her league.

Wait. Was she….considering him?

No. No. She wasn't.

Kanda maybe cared for her, yes. Kanda could care for her like he cared for Lenalee. Yes, that was much better. He was pretty protective of the younger model, so that made a lot of sense. They were more or less friends, right?

She sighed, moving on to peel the oranges now.

Now there was the second question that was bothering her. Why was she so affected by what he said?

_I don't care._

It hurt. Even though now she knew it was a lie, for actions speak louder than words, it still hurt. Why was this so? Wasn't she the one who had said it first?

_That has nothing to do with you and it never will._

Her chest tightened, and a slight painful stab was gnawing at her. She fumbled with the second orange, unable to find the point to break the skin. She stopped, frustrated, and then squeezed the orange with more strength than she intended. But it was his fault to bring up Tyki Mikk, she reasoned. She was angry. She just wanted him to stop prodding that subject. But still, it left a bitter taste in her tongue. The spurt of juice told her that she successfully broke the skin, allowing her access to take out the fleshes of the orange. After cutting all the fruits neatly, she searched about before she found a suitable sized Tupperware to store them in.

She didn't want to see him, but it wouldn't help to run away from it. Better to get it done and over with.

* * *

Reiichi regretted to help her cousin for the countless time when she realized she had no idea which part of the beach he was at. There were three options. Call Lavi, but she didn't want to wake him just for that. Call Kanda, but she didn't want to talk to him at the moment. Yes, it was childish but she wanted to put it off until absolutely necessary. The third option was basically to find him.

She roughly deduced that he'd be at a secluded area for the shoot, so she told the taxi driver to drive on until the area of the beach she was watching dwindled with people. A few meters later she spotted red tape that cordoned a certain area off from the rest of the beach and she just had a feeling he was somewhere around here. When the taxi drove into a car park since it was the end of the road, she spotted the familiar black Lamborghini.

After she paid her fares, she trudged towards the red tape section, cursing her stupidity for wearing jeans and shoes at the beach. The afternoon sun was getting hot and her shoes were being filled with sand with each step she took.

"Restricted section, girlie," A security guard came up to her just as she tried to duck under the tape, waving his baton. "No trespassing,"

"I'm here to give Kanda Yuu his lunch," she responded.

"Nice try," he flicked her away. "Go away,"

"Sir," she grounded out. "I just want to pass him this," she pointed to the Tupperware she was holding.

"Been there, done that," the guard rolled his eyes. "All you girlies are the same. Now get out of here,"

He thought she was one of his fans and that thought really didn't sit well with her. "Look," she was growing frustrated at how this small thing was giving her so much trouble. "Just let me in and I'll be out in five minutes,"

"No can do," he shook his head. "Scoot,"

She frowned. He was giving her no choice. Taking out her phone, she dialed the last number she wanted to at the moment. It rang, and he didn't pick up. The security guard was looking at her, annoyed. She tried two more times. The third time was a charm, because he answered immediately.

"What," it was gruff and moody.

"I have your lunch," she stated harshly, partly in retaliation to his voice.

"So?"

"So I need you to come get it,"

A growl. "Why can't you come and give it to me?"

"Because," she sighed exasperatedly. "The guard won't let me in. Now, you either come and get it, or I'm going back,"

"Che," he hung up.

The man in the uniform twirled his baton, unimpressed. "You can't expect me to believe that, did you?"

"I don't need you to believe it," she had long dropped any trace of politeness.

"You're persistent," he sighed. "We can be here all day if you want to. What do you say, girlie? Stalk the man another time and make my job easier?"

She was about to deny any form of stalking in relation to Kanda, _dear god_, she shuddered, but she spotted the devil himself in the distance and sighed in relief. The guard, in contrast, paled when he realized the girl in front of him wasn't lying all along.

Kanda, who was decked in a singlet and beach pants, fixed a cool stare towards the guard as he reached them. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"S-sir, I-I did not know—"

"You're being paid for this kind of shit and you can't do it right?"

"I a-apologise—"

"Whatever," he turned back, snorting.

Reiichi felt a small twinge of sympathy towards the security guard, but she didn't dwell on it much because Kanda was shouting something at her now. "Woman, hurry up goddammit!" He was already a good pace in front of her.

She jogged after him, but his strides were large and he kept his pace in front of her. He led her further in, and the small black figures in her view originally focused to more people.

The first person that caught her eye was a dark skinned woman in a white bikini was posing ankle deep in the sea. She stretched, showing her toned stomach and legs that went on forever. Her long black hair was tied low, and it trailed to her waist. Her bust was full and shapely, hugging the tiny piece of fabric close to her body. Her face was even more captivating—defined eyes that were molten gold, a perk nose and full lips curved into a small smile.

She was undoubtedly beautiful.

This woman was Lulubell, a member of the Noah family, Reiichi recognized. The ice cold aura that the female model exuded in real life and from her pictures was unmistakable. It started to make her feel conscious of her own body, and Reiichi rubbed her arms absently.

Kanda stood behind the photographer in action. "Oi,"

The photographer jumped in shock, and lucky for him his camera was on a tripod stand. Kanda snorted.

"That was quick," the other commented, turning around with his hand on his chest to stop the erratic breathing. "So what did you—" the man noticed Reiichi standing awkwardly behind. "Hey, I'm

Daisya Barry, photographer for _O Neill_," he stuck out his hand, shoving Kanda away, much to the model's displeasure.

The man had more make up on then her, she noted. But he seemed nice enough, so she shook his hand in return. "Kuroshi Reiichi," she smiled politely.

"Reiichi…Reiichi…" Daisya muttered under his breath. "Why does that sound so familiar—ohhhh… You're Lavi's cousin and Kanda's soon-to-be girlfriend!" he finally announced, triumphant.

Kanda and Reiichi just stared at him disbelievingly. This was getting a little creepy and annoying.

"Just what did the usagi say to you—"

A delicate cough the female model standing in the waters brought them all back to the current situation.

"Sorry to leave you hanging, Lulubell," the photographer grinned sheepishly at her. "We'll continue later. Break time guys!"

The photographing crew took their things and ambled to a tent they had set up nearby. The female model had a few girls come to her with towels, and she retreated to the tent likewise. Daisya took his camera and ushered Reiichi back as Kanda stormed past them muttering angrily.

"Ignore the man," Daisya grinned at Kanda's back, then turned to her. "So, why did Lavi send his cousin over?"

"Delivery service for Kanda's lunch," she sighed, tapping the Tupperware she was still holding.

"Lucky!" Daisya shouted, loud enough for the entire tent to hear. "Kanda! Your girlfriend brought you a homemade lunch!"

Kanda turned and snarled menacingly. "Shut the fuck up, retard! And stop saying that!"

"I'm just saying," the other teased, gesturing to the table in the tent that contained packets of food. "While the rest of us have it catered, yours is specially made with _love_—"

Reiichi rolled her eyes as Kanda tried to punch the other, while Daisya looked like he was having too much fun teasing the male model to stop. After trading a few insults, Kanda opted to go sit at a secluded corner while the photographer joined his crew to eat. Reiichi noticed Lulubell was right at the other end, eating her own fruits that she probably brought.

Quietly, she sat down beside Kanda, feeling a bit out of place. He was the only one she knew in the entire group of people. She pushed the Tupperware into his hands.

Kanda opened it and stared at it like it was foreign. "What the fuck is this?"

"Fruits," she frowned. Wasn't that what he was supposed to eat?

"No, why are they all cut up into weird pieces?" he demanded.

"Because I cut them?" she replied back incredulously. "I did you a favour so why are you bitching about this?"

"It's not a favour if I didn't ask for it," he snorted, but started to eat.

Reiichi watched him eat silently, noting the way he ate. It was as if he was suppressing his hunger for many hours, and she felt a small twinge of guilt that he probably hadn't eaten dinner yesterday ether. At this, she nearly wanted to smack her forehead. She was supposed to be angry with him right? So why was it that every time she kept feeling more guilty than angry?

Then again, he was supposed to be angry with her. But Lavi had told her before; Kanda didn't keep his grudges (except against the Noah).

A sudden growl that came from her stomach made her realize that in her haste to get to the beach, she had forgotten to eat. Kanda showed no sign of acknowledging this until Daisya clapped his hands, signaling the end of break time. He shoved the almost empty Tupperware in her hands.

"Don't waste food," he commanded, and then stalked off to another section of the tent with a changing room.

There were five pieces of fruits left.

* * *

Reiichi had no idea why she didn't just hand Kanda the Tupperware and go home. For some reason, she stayed back, watching the ongoing shoot. She didn't really have anything to do today, she supposed, but she could also call a taxi and head home for some alone time.

The two models were listening to whom she assumed was the _O Neill _representative, and two makeup artists were hovering behind them both, either to neaten their hair that was flying about with the wind, or to lather their bodies even more with sunscreen lotion.

_O Neill_ specialized in swimwear, particularly wetsuits for surfing, diving, or wakeboarding. For Lulubell, she had changed into another light blue based bikini, this time with triangle tops and a string back. Her figure was certainly something to die for. Kanda had his shirt off and wearing blue gradient board shorts, toned body glittering in the sunlight. The first thought that popped into her mind was that Kanda was going to get a tan line and he wasn't going to like it.

After some instructions later, the professionals placed themselves on either side of a surfboard stuck in the sand, ready for the second half of the shoot to begin.

Daisya readied his camera and took some experimental pictures, gesturing to Kanda. "Move closer to Lulubell," he waved his hand. "She won't bite, come on,"

Kanda resisted the urge to growl but complied because it was his fucking _job_. If he had a choice he wouldn't be anywhere within a ten mile radius of that woman. Lulubell shot him a seductive look with a tinge of a smirk as he glared back. He was supposed to gaze at her longing (or that's what the representative said), but there was a fine line between hate and love anyway.

Reiichi noticed the eye signals between them both and wondered what transpired between them before, because something definitely had. Granted, she did expect him to dislike Lulubell because of her family, but what was between them was clearly deeper than that.

Daisya either remained oblivious or chose to ignore it. "Okay, we're starting…. Now,"

Almost immediately, the models' expressions turned into something that was a world of difference. Lulubell kept a coy smile, as she glanced towards the other as though they were having a whale of a time, while Kanda leaned against the surfboard and gazed back intensely, a small smile tugging on his lips.

Reiichi nearly gaped, because it was picture perfect, so unlike what she had seen just seconds before. Both of them were good. Very good. And they were trying to outdo one another.

The shoot moved on, and the poses got more intimate. At first, it was just Lulubell hugging Kanda by the neck playfully. If Kanda had any discomfort about it, he didn't show it at all. Then it moved to her pressing up against him, hands trailing across his body, lips parted near his neck. Reiichi just watched on, unaware of a growing sickness until Kanda was holding Lulubell tightly from the back, hand splayed on her stomach and grazed the side of her cheeks with his lips.

And then he _licked _her.

Blood rushed to her face at the pure suggestive action, and Reiichi cringed with disgust. There was just something uncomfortable about watching Kanda model like that, although she probably knew this was exactly what he was good at. So far Kanda had been modeling solo for her works, and now with a new partner, it was different experience.

Now the two models were front to front with each other, faces so close that they might as well have been making out. Lulubell dragged a fingernail down his bare back, trailing a sensitive pattern while Kanda tangled his hands in her hair.

Seeing Kanda in body contact with a girl so willingly was a little bit shocking to Reiichi, for the man always denied any body contact with her cousin (the one who was only suicidal enough to hug him). It just felt like he wasn't_ Kanda_ anymore, but _Kanda Yuu_, top model who had millions of girls at his feet. The thought was just a bit sickening and she turned her focus past both of them, gazing into the sea.

When she looked back at them both, Lulubell was directing her unsettling gaze right at her. The golden eyes didn't help to soothe the disturbing feeling she was getting, and it grew worse when the female model smirked just unnoticeably, but it was enough for Reiichi to see.

* * *

Towards evening and the final part of the shoot, Reiichi took a walk from their shooting location, heading towards a nearby jetty she spotted. She watched calmly as fishes in the water swam past in an almost rhythmic like manner.

Some weird feeling was just_ annoying_ her so much at the moment, but she took a deep breath and willed it away. There was no explanation for the feeling just that it was growing stronger and stronger, which was entirely stupid.

She was so caught up into staring into the space that she didn't notice when Daisya appeared beside her and started to take photos of her. It was only the fifth picture when she heard the familiar click of the button and her hands automatically rose to shield her face.

"Just one more, please?" Daisya begged.

She shook her head, smiling slightly as she kept her face covered. "I don't like being taken pictures of,"

Of course, that reason never stopped her own cousin, but Daisya shrugged and lowered his camera. "We're done for today," he told her. "So Kanda should be out of the changing room in a bit,"

Reiichi nodded in acknowledgment, but kept quiet after that. There wasn't anything much to say. Daisya leaned against the railing of the jetty, turning his camera toward the sky as he took more pictures.

"You like him, don't you?" The photographer suddenly blurted out, but kept his concentration through his camera lens.

She snorted. "No…"

It was slightly disconcerting that the first 'him' she thought of was Kanda, but she put it down as Lavi's constantly teasing.

"You can't fool a photographer, Kuroshi-chan," he pressed some buttons on his camera, shoving it in her face to look at. "You see this?"

It was one of the pictures he took of her while she stared blankly into the sea.

"I call it 'Heartbreak'," he declared.

"I call it 'Zoning out'," she raised an eyebrow.

Daisya laughed and then sobered. "Look," he nudged towards the beach.

Kanda emerged from the changing room in a tank top and berms, throwing a towel to some unsuspecting crew. He was making his way towards the jetty when Lulubell caught his arm, and she said something to him. Kanda stilled for a moment, and then replied something back. Too bad they were too far away to eavesdrop.

"I thought he hated the Noah," Reiichi found herself muttering.

"He does," Daisya agreed nonchalantly. "But when one of them your ex I guess you can't really avoid them much—"

"…What?" Was she really hearing this right?

"Well they weren't ever explicitly together, " he explained, "But they were spotted together at night a few times, coming out of a hotel or the sorts,"

Now that was too much information.

Kanda was together with Lulubell in the past, and Lulubell was a Noah, so that meant that something occurred between them to make him hate the Noah so much, she rationalized. So all that prejudice was about a broken heart? Then she realized Kanda actually liked or maybe_ loved _Lulubell once (did he still?), and that thought was even more disconcerting than the rest.

"Anyway, it's good that they broke up. Lulubell's heart is too cold to melt, even if she does have one hell of a body…" Daisya rambled on, more to himself. "Though, maybe that's why he stuck with the ice princess, who knows?"

The duo at the beach was still conversing. Lulubell was touching Kanda's face and he wasn't reacting…the uncomfortable feeling in her was getting stronger.

"Why don't you do something that'll catch his attention?" Daisya snapped his fingers, grinning.

Why did she need to catch his attention? She could wait till they were done talking. "What? No, I don't—"

"You can pretend to drown and he'll save you!" his eyes were bright with enthusiasm. "Yeah, that's perfect!"

A bad feeling chilled her spine as she realized where this was going. She backed away as the other advanced predatorily towards her. "Barry-san, really, I can't—"

The photographer dismissed her refusals, grinning widely as he pushed the girl through an opening in the railing of the jetty, watching with satisfaction as she landed a distance away from the jetty with a loud splash.

She was thrashing in the water realistically. "D-daisya—san…" she tried to call. "I-I can't…" A huge wave submerged her, and she struggled, spluttering from the sea water that she was swallowing.

She couldn't see for salt water kept going into her eyes, and it stung. She accidently took in another gulp of water and she panicked. She tried to shout, but all that earned her were more mouthfuls of salty water. There was nothing in the sea for her to latch on to, and it was getting colder by the second. It felt futile that she was trying to keep afloat uselessly. She was breathing hard, praying, just praying for someone to realize she couldn't swim.

Her head dipped beneath the waters a few more times and she continued to struggle. It was getting harder to breathe. She was scared, realizing sickly that she was going to drown. Was this it? Was she just going to die by some stupid accident?

Another wave submerged her, and this time, she disappeared into the waters.

* * *

"Kanda, just a minute, please?" Lulubell was clutching on to his arm, her dainty fingers clenching hard, almost leaving marks on his skin.

Kanda tried to barge past, but the tone of her honey sugared voice lowered to something more dangerous. "I said please,"

He ripped her hand off him, turning around forcefully. "What do you want?"

She smiled elusively. "I just wanted to give a word of advice: Do not get too close to the girl,"

"That has nothing to do with you," he spat back.

"On the contrary, it does," she murmured, tracing his jaw line. "I don't want you to be hurt when the girl comes over to our side," she purred, "Of course, you're welcome to come too…"

Kanda snorted, turning his face away. "I'm wasting my time,"

The female model dropped her expression to an ice cold one. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Kanda Yuu,"

"Just leave us the fuck alone," he insisted.

A small movement at the corner of his eye caught his notice. At the jetty, Daisya was advancing towards Reiichi while she tried to back away. What were they doing?

Lulubell's eyes narrowed, frowning at his lack of attention on her. "Tell Lavi Bookman this," she carried on like they were having a perfectly normal conversation not veiled with hate. "The Matsumoto group has officially been eliminated. The next target is you," she smiled dangerously. "We won't be holding back anymore,"

Kanda was half listening, because his eyes widened fractionally he saw the photographer shove his designer into the sea. What the fuck was Daisya doing? The photographer was waving to him frantically at his spot from the jetty.

"Kanda! Reiichi-chan fell in!" the other was screaming.

As if he was going to believe that, not after he saw him push her with his own eyes. There wasn't much time to dwell on that because Daisya wasn't jumping in to pull the drowning girl out.

"Fuck," Kanda took off immediately, leaving Lulubell to stare at his retreating back.

Within seconds his feet were skidding on the wooden floorboards of the jetty. He ignored the useless photographer, an uncomfortable feeling lodging in this throat when he saw Reiichi go under. Jumping off the edge of the jetty, he headed towards the direction of where he saw her last. He maneuvered through the water, but it was not easy as the current was getting stronger. It was cold. Taking a deep breath, he dived underwater. His eyes burned from the salt, but he forced them open. It was a murky blue, but at least clear enough for him to scan the area. Thankfully, it was easy to spot a still figure floating nearby.

In a swift motion, he had one arm around her waist and the other pushing water to propel them both to the surface. Once they broke the surface of the sea, he glanced at her face. She lay unconscious, head lolling off his shoulder as he tried to position her while he treaded water. Suddenly he realized with alarm she was still.

Too still.

She wasn't breathing.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

He needed to get her back on land. Making sure her head was above the water, he swam back quickly. Finally, he hauled her up at the jetty's edge where Daisya and a few other people were gathering around to help. Easily he pushed himself up, excess water dripping unto the floor, ignoring the hands that were offered to pull him up.

"Is she alright?" Diasya asked, face pale like he finally realized what he had done.

Kanda disregarded them all, growling for everyone to move away. His instincts took over. Placing two fingers beneath her jaw, he felt for a pulse. It was weak, but at least it was there. Calmly, he cupped the same hand beneath her entire jaw to press open her mouth, the other hand pinching her nose to seal off the nasal passage and he placed his mouth over hers, blowing air into her lungs.

_One, two, three, four, five…_

He watched as her chest rose and fell with each breath he was giving her, but she wasn't waking up. Her body laid limp on the floor, lips pale and skin devoid of its usual warmth. There were voices chattering around him, but he couldn't hear them clearly, and it only passed his brain as background noise. All he was centered on was to awake her up, because if he didn't, he'd be in some serious trouble.

_One, two, three, four, five…_

_One, two, three, four, five…_

She wasn't moving, and suddenly he felt a sinking feeling that it wasn't working. If she _died_… his blood ran cold. No, it wasn't time to give up yet.

_One, two, three, four, five…_

_One, two, three, four—_

Reiichi suddenly sat up, face hitting Kanda's face hard, but she ignored the sudden pain for the urge to cough out water violently to her side was stronger. She breathed harshly, hands groping around to feel the wooden floor boards of the jetty and finally gripped _flesh._ She was trembling, closed eyes opening slowly as she realized she wasn't in the water anymore. Dark blue eyes were staring intently at her, and slowly her brain registered that it was Kanda. She had her hands clamped around his forearms.

It was safe.

Finally her breathing slowed to its normal pace and she felt like a truck ran her over. She sighed heavily, feeling a bit sick as she coughed out more water.

"Kanda…" she tried to say, voice hoarse from all the coughing. "Did you…save me?"

She heard the other sigh irritably. "You are fucking troublesome…" but there was a distinct relief in his voice.

A towel was thrown around her frame, and she reluctantly let Kanda go, immediately feeling the lost of warmth radiating from him. She pulled the cloth around her tighter.

"Can you stand?" a kindly female voice came from her beside her.

It was one of the photographing crew who had come over during the commotion. Reiichi shook her head, since she couldn't feel her legs at all. Another came to give her a bottle of water, and the rest more or less fussed over her.

Kanda sighed heavily, sitting back on the floor of the jetty to catch his breath from the sudden lifesaving act he had to go through. Then he turned to the person who was the cause of it all, his eyes narrowed, rage starting to boil through his veins.

"You…" he hissed, standing up to haul Daisya up close by the collar.

"I-I can explain!" the photographer exclaimed, trying to cool the model down.

"YOU MOTHER FUCKING ASSHOLE!" he shouted furiously, letting loose a good solid punch to Daisya's jaw. "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU PUSH HER IN?"

"K-kanda—" the other was cradling his face, blood trailing from his mouth.

"ARE YOU FUCKING TRYING TO KILL HER?"

"No! I just thought that…" Daisya cringed, knowing that if he said he was just pulling a prank, he would be in deeper shit so he kept his mouth shut.

"You thought what?" Kanda growled menacingly. "You thought that it would be fucking hilarious to see her drown?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't know she couldn't swim—" the other tried to defend, but it was falling on deaf ears.

Kanda glared cruelly, fist closed, stance ready to punch the other another time just for his own satisfaction. Someone grabbed him from behind, preventing him from lunging forward.

"Hey man, chill!"

He would have told whoever it was to shove it up their ass, but another person joined in to restrain him as he struggled. He whipped around, sending the two men who were holding him murderous looks and they wilted a little.

"Don't fucking touch me," he hissed, but he calmed down. They backed away when they saw that he wasn't going to punch their photographer again.

Kanda turned back to Daisya who had an icepack now pressed on his swelling jaw and two girls trying to tend to his face. The model glowered.

"If she died," he breathed dangerously, "You would have her blood on your fucking hands. Remember that,"

He turned around angrily, stalking off the jetty, leaving everyone staring quietly after his outburst.

* * *

The ride home was silent.

Reiichi was just dead tired from struggling in the water and Kanda wasn't a conversation starter anyway. They had changed into dry clothes courtesy of _O Neill's_ representative who took pity on them, so at least Kanda's car wasn't going to get wet. Unfortunately, the smell of salt water clung strongly to both of them and it was making Reiichi a little giddy.

Thankfully the ride home was over soon enough, and the car was parked into the garage.

"I don't have to carry you, do I?" Kanda frowned at her before he opened the car door.

Not in the mood to retort, she wordlessly exited the vehicle herself. It felt like her head was floating between clouds and it was a little woozy. She still could feel the rocking motion of the waves as she stood upon the jetty just hours before. She wanted to sleep. She needed to sleep.

But there was still one thing she had to do before that.

Kanda moved past her as they entered the house, but she grabbed his wrist before he could walk away.

"What?" he turned, face blank.

"Just…" She wasn't even thinking much now.

She was exhausted and mentally drained yet it was bugging her to _do this now or forever hold your peace_, and it occurred to her that Kanda had his full attention on her although he did look a little annoyed. Because she realized that fact, there was just this stupid feeling of nervousness that kept prodding her and wouldn't go away.

"I'm sorry for yesterday…" she pressed on, determined to get this over. "I really appreciate that fact that you came and…"

Reiichi inaudibly gulped as she faintly realized her heart was hammering so loud she could almost hear it, because of what she wanted to do next. Quietly, she leaned up, kissing him lightly on his cheek.

"…thank you, for today,"

She could smell the familiar scent of his skin beneath the stench of seawater which suddenly triggered a blush as she pulled away. She was just thankfully both of them were standing in the dark since neither of them bothered to turn the lights on when they walked in. Then it dawned upon her that Kanda probably wouldn't have liked it and she probably shouldn't have done it and she bit her lip harder when there was no response. Not daring to glance at his expression, she made a hasty retreat for her room, closing the door quickly.

Kanda stood in the middle of the living room feeling a bit numb.

* * *

**Owari.**

I have no idea if Daisya is in character… I mean, the poor man died pretty quickly in the series… I didn't want to make him as loud as Lavi and Alma because I think two of those kind of people are enough in Kanda's life hahaha so Daisya is a little milder.

About the CPR scene:

Kanda was never supposed to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation, but only heart pumps. Unfortunately, I went to research about it and apparently for near drowning cases, mouth to mouth is the necessary course of action. Heart pumps are only for when there is no pulse.

Bleh, he wasn't supposed to touch her yet. D:


	23. Chapter 22

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

_He struggled, but the bonds that held him against the wall were too strong. The bonds tightened further around his wrists, cutting off the circulation to his hands, leaving them cold. Blood trickled down the side of his arm. _

"_Now, now," someone in front of him mocked, golden eyes illuminating in the darkness. "Don't do that,"_

"_Fuck you," he spat._

"_I wouldn't be so rude if I were you," the other's silky voice purred close to his ear. "You wouldn't want her to accidentally fall, would you?"_

_Light flooded the area, and he winced from the sudden brightness. Lulubell was smirking just slightly at him, cocking her head towards a direction. Looking up, he saw a figure floating in the air. No, the figure wasn't floating, but it was suspended in a transparent box. His eyes widened._

"_Tee hee," a small girl with spiked hair and similar gold eyes twirled and wink mischievously beside him. _

"_Now, decide," Lulubell breathed. "Join us, or Rhode gets a new doll to play with,"_

"_Fuck you," he repeated, curling up his fists and struggling harder against the bonds now._

"_Rhode," the other's displeased voice commanded._

_The small girl giggled, and twirled her finger in the suspended box's direction. A blood curling scream pierced the air as the figure in it withered on the base of the box, face scrunched up in pain as Rhode did something he did not know. _

"_Stop that!" he shouted furiously to the girl, but she grinned back at him, laughing. _

"_But I'm just having a bit of fun," she pouted. "I've always wondered how it felt like to have your organs cut up internally,"_

"_You sick fuck—"_

_I wonder if she can swim," she commented, cutting him off. A tank of water appeared beneath the suspended box and her grin widened further as he paled._

"_Stop it—"_

"_I've also wondered," she continued sweetly, snapping her fingers. "About the face you would make if you watched your precious girl die in front of you,"_

_The transparent box disappeared, and the figure fell immediately into the tank of water. The figure was caught between screaming in pain and thrashing for air. Red slowly dyed the clear water as the figure coughed violently in between struggles._

_He could only stare numbly._

_No. This wasn't happening._

_The figure in the tank had stopped moving by this point. The water was a sickly red._

_No._

_The figure's limp body floated in the water, mouth open and blood still trailing out from it._

_No._

Kanda shot up violently, breathing heavily. Cold sweat was trickling down his back, and he focused on his bed covers, trying to calm down. It was just a dream. It wasn't real. He was in his room, not tied up against the wall. Lulubell wasn't trying to get him and the little girl didn't have magic powers.

Reiichi wasn't dead.

He cursed, covering his face with a palm. What was that all about? Nightmares weren't anything new to him, but he had stopped dreaming for some time now. Moreover the dream wasn't about his childhood, which was unusual. He groaned, letting himself drop back unto his bed. His erratic heartbeat was still in the process of slowing down and he realized faintly that he had felt _fear_.

Fear of what? Fear of her dying?

He frowned. Such a morbid thought. She wasn't going to die anytime soon anyway. Then he wondered why he even dreamt about her. Was it a backlash of the recent near drowning event? Perhaps the fear he was suppressing when he conditioned his mind to keep calm to save her was rushing back in the form of a dream.

Kanda groaned. She was so damn troublesome. Always getting into some kind of problem to which he had to take action. She was using up his 'nice-ness' counts and it was draining him. At least, he mused, she never made fun of him acting 'out of character' and thus it was just easier to be like that around her. Lavi would have rubbed the fact that he did anything nice in his face, the Moyashi would be questioning his actual intentions of being nice, and Lenalee would give him this particular knowing look that got a bit on his nerves.

Rei, on the other hand, just thanked him.

And then that kiss she gave him…he rubbed his cheek unconsciously. It felt weird, because no one kissed him on the cheek before. Mouth, yes, neck, yes, or _other _places…but not the cheek. It felt innocent, and he could even feel gratitude from that small action and it was just…

Just…weird.

He was being stupid, he realized. He cleared his mind. It was still dark out, so he glanced at the clock.

_1 11 am._

* * *

Lavi rushed to Kanda's place the first thing in the morning. He made so much noise just by fumbling with the locked door and his keys that Kanda was standing arms crossed in his Kendo garb glaring at him as he opened the door. He tackled the other immediately, not caring if Kanda was sweaty.

"Yuu!" he had his arms wrapped around the other's neck tightly, squeezing so hard that Kanda was gasping for air.

"Fuck—let me go—"

Lavi relaxed his grip a little, but kept his hold around the model. Kanda stopped struggling when Lavi buried his face in the other's shoulder, going very still. The Japanese shifted the wooden sword he was holding into a more comfortable grip so his friend could continue to latch on to him.

"What is it?" Kanda sighed, tone serious.

Lavi mumbled something in his shoulder.

"Can't hear you,"

The red head lifted his head slightly. "I said thank you," he muttered, voice thick with emotion. "I heard about it from Daisya himself that stupid idiot…" he continued. "Thank you for saving her…I don't know what I would have done if she—"

"You would have committed suicide or done something equally stupid,"

Lavi chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, I might do that,"

"Can you let me go now?" Kanda tapped his finger against his side impatiently, scowling.

"No," his friend refused.

Normally Kanda would have kicked him by now, but Lavi's tone was still serious, so he waited for the other to spit it out. Lavi leaned back a little but with his arms still around the other, so that they were facing each other. The red head stared at him, a poker face on his features.

"I also heard that you gave her the _kiss of life_—"

Kanda blanched. "What the fuck?"

"Mouth to mouth, Yuu," the photographer explained.

"I know what it means, retard—"

"So how was it?" Lavi was looking at him expectantly, eye bright. "Although I have half a mind to deck you because you touched her—"

"I fucking saved her life—"

"I know, that's why I'm only hugging you,"

Kanda scowled darker.

"So, how was it?" Lavi asked again, grinning mischievously now. His hold was getting stronger, preventing Kanda from escaping this. "Did you feel some _electricity _going through your body when your lips touched hers? Or was it more like some _chest tightening, heart racing_ feeling that left you breathless?"

"Usagi…" the other growled dangerously, but Lavi was paying no heed.

"Or was it warm and sent _tingly_ feelings to your toes—" The red head stopped, pushing his face closer to the model to scrutinize. "Woah, are you blushing?"

Kanda would have denied vehemently on any sort of blushing because he didn't blush, _ever_, but he was interrupted.

"What are you guys doing?"

Both of them turned to the source of voice. Reiichi was standing rigidly at the entrance of the living room. She sounded mildly amused at the display in front of her. Lavi had his arms around Kanda's neck, and Kanda had dropped his sword on the floor in an attempt to pull the other off from the back of his shirt but it merely looked even more misleading. There was also the fact that both their faces were close enough to look like they did something and Kanda sweating from some physical workout wasn't helping any.

"You know what? I don't want to know," she turned around, a small smirk at the edge of her lips as she headed to the kitchen.

"I am _not_ going at it with your cousin!" Kanda tried to push the man on him off, knowing exactly what was running through the girl's head.

"Come on, Yuu," Lavi made kissy faces at him, and he nearly vomited. "Don't deny our _love_—"

"Shut up," the model managed to shove one hand into the other's face, and the redhead reluctantly let go allowing Kanda to storm back to his room with a huff.

Lavi grinned. He made way towards the kitchen where Reiichi was leaning against the counter waiting for the water to boil in the kettle. He slid his arms around her waist from behind.

"Good morning," he snuggled his face into the crook of her neck.

Reiichi ruffled his hair, smiling slightly as she relaxed into his hold. "Morning,"

"How are you feeling?" he asked gently.

"Normal," she responded.

"Even after nearly drowning to death—"

"…You know?" Reiichi stilled.

"What do you take me for?" he pouted, a little insulted. "I'm your cousin—of course I know,"

There was nothing to say to that.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he smiled, hugging her tightly again. "I nearly died of a heart attack when Daisya told me he pushed you into the water to which I will _maul _the guy for—" then he snickered, "I forgot to thank Yuu for sucker punching him,"

She wouldn't ever forget how livid Kanda was on her behalf. It was a bit scary, seeing him actually bodily harming someone else (her cousin didn't count), so much so that she didn't dare to ask him to calm down.

"Maybe you should learn how to swim…" Lavi trailed off thoughtfully. "Yuu has a pool here, so maybe he can teach you—"

"No," she cut him off immediately. Swimming lessons? Bad. With Kanda? Even worse. No, that was definitely not happening. "I don't really want to trouble Kanda—"

"Aww, you're thinking of his wellbeing!"

"No, I'm just saying—"

Lavi blabbered on, ignoring her denials. "Don't be shy, Rei-chan. I'm sure your hero wouldn't mind,"

"He's not my hero," she sighed.

The kettle whistled, signaling that the water was boiling. She broke out of his embrace gently to open the cupboards, taking the box of green tea leaves. Then she searched another cupboard for the cups—two random ones for her and Lavi, and one of the five similar black cups for Kanda. The light aroma steamed from the cups as she poured the water.

She was passing Lavi his cup when she noticed he was looking at her strangely. She looked questioningly at him, but he merely beamed back innocently. He waited till she was sipping the tea, then he opened his mouth.

"How was the kiss?" he asked nonchalantly.

She choked, coughing as the hot liquid went down her throat too fast at the unexpected question. She set her cup down on the table. How did Lavi know about the kiss? Did Kanda tell him about it? Or worse, did he complain about it to her cousin?

"It was just to thank him!" she defended. "It didn't mean anything else—"

"Thank him?" Lavi looked confused. "I'm talking about the mouth to mouth resuscitation he performed on you—wait a second," he gaped. "You kissed him?"

"N-Ye- I did not!" she tried to deny, but Lavi was giving her this particular I-don't-believe-you look. "It's was just on the cheek—"

"Aha! So you did!" he pointed at her triumphantly, nearly clapping with glee.

"No!" Dammit. She tried to ignore the heat that was rising to her face. "Well, sort of…but it's nothing like what you think!"

Lavi was grinning too hard. "I have to bug Yuu about this," he punched his fist victoriously in the air.

"Lavi…" she warned, glaring a little at him, but it wasn't working.

"I'm so proud of you, Rei-chan," he sang, cuddling her again. "My baby cousin giving away her first kiss to Yuu—"

"It's not my first kiss!" she reminded him a bit sulkily.

"Well, first kiss that you initiated—"

"Wrong, I kissed you on the cheek before—"

"To someone that is not me—"

"I've kissed Misaki nee-san—"

"A guy—"

"And Kazuki nii-san—"

"Technicalities don't matter," he insisted, determined to make his nonexistent point.

Reiichi considered banging her head on his shoulder as he squeezed her cheerily. Then she remembered he was saying something before they came to this particular topic.

"Lavi…did you say something about mouth to mouth?" she furrowed her eyebrows.

"Oh yeah," he nodded eagerly. "Yuu had to do it because apparently you weren't breathing so—"

"_What?"_ Reiichi stilled again. "Kanda did what?"

"How do you think he saved you?" her cousin was almost smirking.

Well that didn't exactly cross her mind. She knew he dived in and brought her to land, and she err…_somehow_…woke up. Blue eyes. Oh right, he was the first person she saw when she regained consciousness. When she regained consciousness…she felt pain in her face. And that was because Kanda would have been giving her mouth to mouth at that point in time…

Mouth to mouth… her hands twitched as she digested the piece of information. That would be her second kiss (sort of). By Kanda.

Urgh.

Lavi watched as emotions flitted past his cousin's eyes, though her face was frozen into a neutral expression. First there was the tell tale sign of confusion, and then realization, then her eyes blanked and he could not tell what was going through her head.

"Um, Rei-chan?" Lavi waved a hand in front of her worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she snapped back to reality.

The sound of a foot stepping into the kitchen made both of them jump guiltily. Kanda scrutinized them both suspiciously for a moment, but he didn't say anything. Reiichi passed the remaining cup of green tea to him, and he took it, heading towards the dining table to sit down. Lavi watched with a mildly interested eye that Kanda accepted the tea without any complaints. Usually the model would bitch about how_ he_ made it (he liked milk in tea, so what?).

Lavi followed the Japanese like a dog would to a master out of the kitchen. Yes, Reiichi could predict the usual banter of traded love quotes and insults that streamed throughout the house. What a perfectly normal morning.

"Rei-chan, we gotta go," her cousin finally announced. "Yuu isn't going lend us his mad driving skills today so we have to hail a cab—"

"She isn't going," Kanda cut in, eyes still on the newspaper he was reading.

"Huh? I'm not?" she blinked.

"Your debt, remember?" the model looked at her meaningfully to emphasize his point.

"Monday… oh right, today is Monday," she snapped her fingers. "You still haven't told me what this is about,"

"It's none of your concern," he said firmly, though ironically, this was now involving her…

"Actually, today, his—" Lavi tried to explain, but the look his friend was giving him promised death. Painful death.

"Usagi, say a word more and die," Kanda threatened.

"She's going to find out anyway! Why can't I stay too?" his friend started to whine. "It's not fair! You choose her over your best friend forever—"

"Because," the Japanese deadpanned. "After the last time—"

"First time actually—"

"—of which I had to endure the most fucking embarrassing moment of my life repeated on loop—yeah, over my fucking dead body, you will not meet him ever again,"

"Harsh,"

Kanda shrugged.

Lavi pouted, and then threw his friend this particular _smirk_, looking back and forth the model and his designer.

"Of course, you want some _alone _time, I can understand that," he grinned, waving to his cousin. "Have fun today, Rei-chan! I'll come after work,"

"Wait—Lavi!" Reiichi tried to stop her cousin for answers, but the front door slammed shut faster than she could blink.

She looked back at Kanda who opted to turn his attention back to the newspaper he was reading, pointedly ignoring her. Fine, the man can keep his secrets.

But she couldn't help but wonder what exactly had she gotten into…

* * *

By lunchtime, nothing much had happened. Reiichi had spent the entire day in her room reading manga online since Kanda didn't say anything to her, and Kanda was either working out, or doing god knows what in his room, not that she bothered to check. At 12 o'clock she wandered out to the kitchen where Kanda was standing by the kitchen counter, cutting something.

She moved closer, and saw that he was holding a particular blade in one of his hand, the other hand pressing on something while he chopped swiftly. His pretty oriental face was relaxed into a neutral expression, hair up into its usual ponytail. White power covered his forearms, and she realized with some amusement that he was wearing an apron over a shirtless body. How domestic. Curious, she shifted forward to see what exactly he was doing.

Beneath his left hand, there was a folded piece of dough, while his right hand mechanically used the blade to cut the dough into fine stripes. He was making soba.

"You actually make the soba noodles?" She incredulously asked before she knew she even opened her mouth.

She had always thought he bought the noodles like a normal person. This took his cooking skills to another freaky level. Kanda seemed to sense her presence before she said anything, for he merely continued his cutting actions.

"Che," he just sounded offended.

For next few minutes, Reiichi just watched him quietly, just the sounds of a steady rhythm of _chop chop chop_ filling the air. The made noodles were placed neatly unto a shallow wooden box. Then Kanda moved, nearly walking right into her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, stepping away to give him access while he just looked irritated at the disruption.

He headed towards the sink, ridding his hands with leftover flour. Then he walked to the other end of the kitchen counter, where a bowl of flour and a measuring cup filled with water was placed. He poured a quarter of the water into the bowl, skillful hands mixing the flour and water mixture.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me?" the model demanded suddenly, turning to glare at her. "If not, get out of the kitchen,"

The designer frowned. "I don't know how to make soba,"

"Tch," Kanda rolled his eyes. "I didn't expect you to. Get an apron from the second drawer," he commanded, even though she didn't agree to help. "And tie up your hair,"

She did what she was told only because she was really kind of interested in how he made soba. Once done, she stood beside him, continuing to watch. Now all the water that was measured was used, and the dough was forming. Soon, it was just a lump of white in the big bowl.

"See the edge of the bowl?" Kanda tapped the particular part. "You knead the dough by starting from the edge, then stretching it down the sides of the bowl," he demonstrated. "Now you try it,"

Reiichi blinked, unsure, but she hesitantly did as he showed her. Unfortunately, it was much harder than it looked, for the wad of dough merely tumbled down the side of the bowl.

Kanda snorted. "You suck,"

She couldn't help but feel insulted. "Hey, it's my first time," she tried again. It was better, but she only managed to stretch a quarter of the entire length of the dough that should have been kneaded. She could practically see the smirk that the other was having while she concentrated on repeating the motions over and over.

"Che, you're too slow," Kanda peeled the dough from her hands, taking over.

She watched stunned, and feeling a bit irked, at the ease and speed he kneaded it compared to her. Within a minute, he was done. She soured a bit at the amused expression on his face. After smearing the surface of the counter with some flour from a plastic box, he took the wad of dough out of the bowl and placed it on the counter. He took the rolling pin next to him and flattened the ball a little.

"Ball up your fists," he instructed, "And roll the rolling pin with them," he placed both fists on either side of the rolling pin, putting a little pressure and pushing it back and forth. The dough flattened to a neat circle.

He stepped back for her turn. Reiichi did as he showed, but she was more apprehensive this time as she knew whatever that was easy to him, wasn't at all in reality. That was confirmed when the rolling pin slipped out of her grasp when she pushed forward. She watched, irritated, as the pin once again rolled away from her as she attempted more tries.

A sudden noise sounded from beside her and Kanda was trying to keep his smirk on while he turned away, pressing his lips together. She frowned, but turned back to her task. When the pin rolled off the table this time, Kanda had a hand pressed to his mouth, but a snort slipped.

She picked up the pin, shoving it at him. "Quit laughing at me!"

Kanda swiped the rolling pin off her hands and coughed, trying to keep the growing snicker under control, but his eyes were dancing with amusement. He turned back to the dough and flattened it himself. The dough became a huge thin circle within seconds. The circle was then rolled into a square quickly with Kanda's skill, and he wrapped the dough around a larger rolling pin.

With a bit of strength, he rolled the whole thing across the counter a few times. Thankfully he didn't bother to let her try it, because she was sure she would have rolled it off the counter and unto the floor. The next step was to fold the thin dough into a rectangle, and it was ready to be cut.

"Place your left hand like a fox," he pressed his third and forth finger to his thumb. "And press on this," he placed that hand on a wooden plank that sat on top of the rectangle piece of dough. "Then you cut it," He aligned the blade against the edge of the wooden plank and pressed down, slicing a neat strand of soba noodle.

He handed the blade to her and stepped back. Reiichi took on the challenge, feeling a bit more confident in this because chopping wasn't a new skill to her. The first strand was cut and she looked at her model who looked back at her. Good, he wasn't laughing. Taking it as a good sign, she continued on, creating a steady beat as the blade hit the wooden chopping board.

"What the heck is this?" Kanda suddenly stopped her, picking up one of the strand of noodles she had cut, showing it to her.

"What's wrong with that?" she irked. It looked perfectly fine to her.

"It's too thick," he criticized, and then picked up another strand. "And this? Too thin. Can't you do it right?" he sighed irritably, crossing his arms.

Reiichi wanted to throw the blade at him. "You are just being picky,"

"No, you just suck at this," he commented.

He stepped behind her, one hand grabbing her left wrist to press on the wooden board, and the other hand covering hers to hold the blade. His body was pressed against her back. A jolt suddenly seized her entire front.

"Use the blade to push the wooden board back with each cut," he was saying, breath way too close to her ear.

Her heart started to race, and her grip on the blade slackened, but Kanda didn't seem to notice for he continued on, demonstrating to her his technique. His scent was starting to invade her senses, he didn't put on cologne she realized, because it was that particular soft smell of his skin that she recognized. Then she became aware that his bare arms were in contact with hers, and they were warm. Too warm. She was beginning to feel a little hot.

"—Are you listening to me?"

She snapped out of it, realizing with horror what exactly her thoughts were trailing towards.

"I-it still looks the same to me," she managed with a bit of nonchalance.

Kanda huffed, letting her go and pushing her away from the chopping board, taking over the task himself. He cut the noodles into perfectly even strips, which was extremely important unlike what Reiichi was implying. Soon, the second batch of noodles where placed in the same wooden box he had stored the previous batch in. He closed the lid, satisfied. The amount could last them for a while.

Then he noticed Reiichi staring at him.

"What?" he raised an eyebrow. "Woman, time to clean up,"

"You have flour on your face," she said, advancing towards him. "Here, let me help you," he only noticed the devilish glint that passed her eyes and the trace of a tell tale smirk forming on her lips when a flour dirtied hand smeared across his face.

He reflexively wiped his face with his hand, but he realized too late that his hand was covered in flour as well. "Shit,"

Reiichi laughed, gasping for air. It was funny when she noticed he had a this white patch of flour near his mouth for when he was trying to stifle his laughter earlier, and she just couldn't help the devil in her that egged her on to smash his face with flour. Unfortunately, soba flour was expensive, so she settled on the flour on her hands.

Her laughter trickled when a smirk started to get wider on Kanda's face, his eyes getting darker and more predatory. Before she could back away, he grabbed her and had one hand smearing over the counter for extra flour. The flour ended up powdering her entire face. She spluttered some out of her mouth. Not to be outdone, she likewise got more leftover flour, this time aiming for his beloved hair. Kanda didn't expect her to yank his apron forward, and his ponytail ended up half white. He growled.

"Fuck, I just washed my hair this morning!"

He snatched the plastic box containing flour off the counter, scooping a handful and throwing it at her in retaliation. Now even the back of her shirt was dotted with white. Reiichi tried to wrestle the box of flour off him, but obviously Kanda being bigger and stronger had an advantage. Eventually she snatched some flour and smeared it down his bare back when he twisted to avoid her, earning a curse. She stiffened when she realized Kanda had this particular gleam in his eye and she backed away slowly while he advanced.

"Um, we should clean up or something—" she tried to make him stop coming forward, because she was sure he had something really bad planned.

"You think you can get away with this?" he growled, the predatory smirk getting even more pronounced.

"Maybe?" she asked as innocently as she could.

Kanda just took another step forward.

"Would it help if I said I'm sorry—" she didn't get the chance to finish her sentence because her footing slipped on the flour covered floor.

Thankfully Kanda had fast reflexes and caught her before she fell, but she froze when Kanda had his arm around her and wasn't letting go. This was even closer than before, for she had her face right next to his ear, and she could feel the shoulder muscles that tensed that she blindly reached and grabbed.

It was like a cliché slow motion scene of some romantic movie she watched (and laughed at) before, because when she pulled back a little, she was just staring into the flour covered face that even with the powdery substance, still looked _attractive_. It was like back to the first time he cornered her before the Lust shoot. His unreadable gaze was still as intense as ever and it was trained on her, first back into her own eyes, then trailing down…she licked her lips unconsciously, a sudden squeezing feeling seized her windpipe and it was getting a bit difficult to breathe.

And then his lips curved into a sadistic smirk and when she felt the back of her shirt being pulled back and he dumped the entire box of flour down. A cold sensation rushed down her back.

"K-kanda!" She shrieked, trying to get away but his grip was too strong.

Finally he stepped back, snickering, waving the empty plastic box in his hand. "Bring it on, woman," he smirked.

Reiichi merely eyed the flour on the floor, another idea forming.

After a few more minutes of flour battling, both of them were just as white as the other. Eventually Reiichi conceded to lose, because knowing males, she rolled her eyes, they had too much manly pride to admit defeat. The kitchen was cleaned up slowly and they sort of regretted dirtying it so much (Kanda was grumbling but heck, the man always grumbled). A much needed bath was taken and they had soba for lunch.

The morning quickly passed.

* * *

It did cross Reiichi's mind that Kanda wanted to stay at home and teach her how to make soba (and laugh at her while at it), but that would have been a really…stupid…reason. It was the truth. It was already nearing three and she still didn't get why he asked her to stay at home. She was watching television to pass the time, and Kanda sat on the other end of the couch, arm over his eyes and apparently sleeping.

Then the door bell rang.

She glanced at the front door, then at the sleeping male. He didn't wake up. Odd, because she was sure he was quite a light sleeper. The bell rang again. This time, she switched off the television and went to prod Kanda. He lifted his arm to glare at her when the bell rang for the third time.

"Go get it," he frowned, getting off the couch and disappeared into the kitchen.

Reiichi looked at his retreating back suspiciously. "Okay…"

She headed for the front door and turned on the screen connected to the camera at the gate. A bespectacled old man with thick grey hair and a moustache was holding a suitcase, a serene smile on his features.

"Yuu-kun my son, let your father in~" rang through the speaker.

Reiichi did a doubletake. _What?_

"Kanda!" she called the other, and Kanda's head popped out the kitchen. "There's someone claiming to be your…father…" she trailed off uncertainly, because he had told her rather rudely a few weeks back in the café that his parents were dead.

"He's not my fucking father!" he retorted, but made no move to come to the front door.

"Ah! Is that Yuu-kun?" the voice through the speaker continued. "Open the gate! I haven't seen you in so long!"

In the kitchen, Kanda cringed visibly, cursing under his breath.

Reiichi took it as it was safe to let the man in, and within seconds, she was face to face with the odd man. On close up, he was giving her a rather curious look on his kindly features.

"And who might you be?" the man set his suitcase down, then a suddenly his eyes widened, almost dramatically. "Yuu-kun!" he was talking more to himself because Kanda was still in the kitchen. "You didn't invite your own father to your wedding, how could you?" he was practically sobbing.

The designer would have said something, but the man took both her hands into his. "A great pleasure to meet Yuu-kun's wife," he was practically beaming with pride. "I'm his father, Froi Tiedoll,"

"You're not my fucking dad!" came the angry scream from the kitchen. "And she's not my wife!"

"Don't be offended," Tiedoll was patting her now. "Yuu-kun is just shy, he didn't mean to hurt your feelings—"

"Shut the fuck up!" another shout from Kanda.

"Um," Reiichi took the chance to intervene. "Tiedoll-san, I'm not married to Kanda. I'm just rooming here for a while,"

"You're not?" there was this sad puppy dog look that Tiedoll was giving her.

"No," she confirmed firmly.

"Well, you'd look good with my son,"

"How many times do have to say this," Kanda appeared finally, carrying a tea set in his hands. "I'm not your fucking son,"

"Language, Yuu-kun," Tiedoll frowned.

"Whatever," the model set the tray on the low table in the living room while Tiedoll took up his suitcase and stepped closer to the living room.

Soon, they were all seated Japanese style on a cushion at the low table, with Reiichi and Kanda on one side, and Tiedoll on the other. Reiichi noticed Tiedoll shifting uncomfortably in his seat and she vaguely wondered if the reason why Kanda chose to sit like this was to annoy the man. Kanda busied himself with making tea, leaving Reiichi to stare uncomfortably at the old man. Why was she even sitting here with them? She was sure this was entirely a private thing between Kanda and Tiedoll and certainly nothing to do with her, but for some strange reason, she was there.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get to catch your name earlier," Tiedoll smiled at her, easing her nervousness a bit.

"I'm Kuroshi Reiichi," she replied politely. "I think you know my cousin, Lavi Bookman,"

"Ahh, that charming young man," he nodded thoughtfully. "I hoped to meet him again,"

"You'll never meet him again," Kanda snapped, scowling.

Tiedoll ignored him. "Reiichi-kun, you are designing Yuu-kun's spread in _Mugen_, are you not?"

He carried a conversation with her about Kanda's latest work exploits, while the person in question poured green tea into the ceramic cups. When Kanda finally couldn't pretend to be busy so he could avoid talking to his past caretaker, he resigned to his fate as he passed the cups around.

"So how's your kendo coming along, my boy?" The elder asked, shifting his position once more.

"Normal," the model deadpanned.

"Did you know that Yuu-kun was the kendo captain when he was just a freshman?" Tiedoll beamed, turning to Reiichi proudly. "He was even the national champion—"

"—for the four consecutive years he was in high school," she finished. Yes, she knew all about his achievements from her cousin who liked to repeat himself in hopes of selling his friend to her. Um yeah, not working.

Kanda glanced at her a little disturbingly, but then he realized that he attended high school with her annoying loud mouth cousin.

"Yes, yes," Tiedoll was nodded fondly. "I remember when his sword was bigger than him. He was just a wee little thing—"

"Fuck—"

"—and now he's such an accomplished young man…" hell, the old man was sniffling, nearly to the point of crying.

Reiichi awkwardly offered a box of tissues she grabbed from behind her. He took it gratefully, blowing his nose noisily. Kanda just looked ticked off. "Will you stop being so emotional?" he demanded.

"But my son—"

"I am not your fucking son!" the Japanese insisted angrily, nearly breaking the ceramic cup in his hands. "Look, what is it that you came here for?" he asked finally.

"To see you of course!"

"Che, no shit, Sherlock." Kanda retorted. "You've seen me already, so now you can get lost. But I know you wanted to tell me something you couldn't over the fucking phone, so spit it out already," he glared, and the atmosphere plugged into something serious.

Tiedoll set down his cup, sighing. Reiichi kept quiet, glancing between the two. If she thought she was intruding in private matters, this took the cake. She was torn between excusing herself to leave them alone together, and to stay and try and blend into the background because she didn't want to disturb the moment.

"I received a letter," he began, clearing his throat. "From Iseki-san,"

Kanda pursed his lips but didn't say anything, though she could tell his mood was darkening even further.

"Her illness has gotten worse from the last time—"

"So?" Kanda snapped impatiently.

"She wants you to visit," Tiedoll stated shortly.

"That bitch—" Kanda immediately started, but was cut off.

"Yuu-kun! She's your aunt! Show some respect!" The elder scolded sternly.

"Respect?" The model spat bitingly. "Why do I have to respect her? I don't fucking care if she's older or even actually related to me, but it'll be the day when _she _shows me some fucking respect,"

Tiedoll sighed tiresomely. "Yuu-kun, we've been through this before. She took care of you when you were young, the least you could is to see her one last time—"

"Taking care—psh, yeah right," the Japanese snorted. "If you count taking care of a kid by starving, beating, and treating him like a goddamn slave, yes you can fucking say that,"

"I know she did many things, Yuu-kun," Tiedoll said softly. "But she regrets it,"

Kanda swallowed the entire cup of green tea down his throat. "She just wants me there because I'm _Kanda Yuu_ now and not some fucking kid left by her dead sister she was forced to take in," he muttered bitterly.

Reiichi bit her lip, watching as Kanda's eyes hardened. It was different from all the times she saw him angry. This time it was much deeper, even worse than the time he yelled at Daisya. She could hear pure resentment and hate in his tone of voice and was that…a bit of hurt? To hear him speak like that…there was a sharp pang she felt inwardly.

"Your mother wouldn't have wanted this," Tiedoll tried.

"My mother," it only served to make the situation worse. Kanda laughed shallowly. "You dare bring my mother in this? I didn't fucking know her at all. I wouldn't have know what she fucking wanted,"

"Yuu-kun…"

"The worst part of all this," he slammed the cup on the table. "Is you. You know what she fucking did to me, yet you still fucking do this. I don't fucking ever want to see her or even hear her name, goddammit!"

Thick silence reigned throughout the room. Kanda turned his gaze towards his empty cup, fingers gripping the said cup so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. Tiedoll kept his mouth shut, sinking a little into the cushion he was kneeling on, having no words to say.

"Well," Tiedoll shifted awkwardly after a while, cutting the tension. "I have to check into my hotel, so I'd best get going now,"

Although it only had been a mere fifteen minutes that the other had stepped into the house, but Reiichi didn't have the heart to ask him to stay although it was the polite thing to do. Reiichi stood up as Tiedoll made to move, walking him to the door since Kanda didn't seem like he was going to move. Once at the front door, she waited as he slipped on his shoes and stepped onto the ground outside.

"Reiichi-kun," he spoke softly, ensuring that Kanda wouldn't hear them. "Do you think you can convince Yuu-kun to visit his aunt? I know it's asking a lot but…"

"Tiedoll-san… " she started, shuffling her feet. "With all due respect, I think Kanda should make this decision alone," she continued on hesitantly. "And…I ask that you respect whatever decision he chooses,"

Tiedoll stared at her, and then he tipped his head down in her direction. She could tell he disagreed with her, but nonetheless he smiled slightly. "I hope to meet you again soon, Reiichi-kun," he said before he turned heel and walked out the open gate.

She closed the gate and door when the other left, turning back to the living room. Kanda was still sitting in the same position, not moving. He poured another cup of tea for himself, but his eyes were far away. The tension had lightened a bit when Tiedoll left, but it still felt something private about Kanda and she didn't want to intrude. But then he was in a state she had never seen before. He was silent, just staring at the now half empty cup, face blank.

Leave him there, or accompany him?

Before she knew it, she was sitting down on the cushion opposite him. Kanda didn't look at her, just continued to wallow depressingly. It felt kind of…_painful_…for her to watch him like that, because he was one of the strongest persons she'd ever met. She was not used to seeing the conflict that clashed in his eyes, between the burning hate and being filial, between the decision of the right thing to do and the thing he wanted to do.

For Kanda, he could never forget the young years of his life where he knew he was being prejudiced against, yet could do nothing about, and it was all because of his mother's sister. He could remember how clearly in the past she made to him that she abhorred him with every fiber of her being, yet now she was practically begging him to forgive and forget. It was not easy. He knew why Tiedoll kept insisting him to go, because it was a chance for him to get to know his real family. He could finally learn about his real parents, in more detail from the people who were blood related to his mother, which Tiedoll couldn't provide.

But the thought of going back to that household was threatening to make him sick literally, as sour bile rose up his throat and he nearly wanted to puke. Being locked in that cold dark storeroom while he screamed uselessly…the thin cane she loved to scare him with…even now, he could spy the scars beneath his feet that prevented him from walking for days when the wounds were fresh.

_He stared quietly from behind the rice paper door at the group of children gathered outside. They were playing with spinning tops, and he watched as the tops spun round and around and around. Several sounds of laughter came from the children as they ran around gaily. He wanted to try it, but he was strictly forbidden to step out of the house. He thought he was doing a good job of being unseen until one of the girls stared back at him._

"_Ne, let's ask that girl to play with us," she smiled brightly, dragging along one of her friends toward his direction, but her friend was pulling her back._

"_Don't! We'll be beaten if we do!" the other children caught on to what they were doing while he shrank further behind the door. "Otou-san said not to go near him," one of them brashly pointed directly at him._

"_Ehh? But he's so pretty…"_

"_Said he murdered his own mother," one of them whispered, but it was loud enough for him to hear. _

"_He's not like us," another added in. "He's got the blood of a foreigner,"_

_The expression of the first girl quickly turned horrified. She wasn't looking at him anymore. The group of children now huddled together, whispering conspiratorially. _

"_Look, he's still staring at us," _

"_Don't stare back! He can kill us with his eyes!"_

"_That's stupid," _

"_How do you think he killed his mother? Those blue eyes are not natural!"_

"_Maybe we can chase him away…"_

_One of them picked up a rock and hurled it at his direction, but missed as the rock sailed through the door and tore the rice paper._

"_Hiro-kun! Look what you've done!" _

"_Well you didn't stop me!"_

"_Iseki-sama is coming! Quick, let's make a run for it!"_

_The children scuttled off as his aunt ambled down the sidewalk in her kimono. She upheld the grace of a dignified traditional Japanese woman as she walked, keeping a demure smile as she entered back into her household. She paused when she saw him hiding behind the door, then her eyes narrowed at the tear in the rice paper._

"_Boy…." Her voice lowered to something dangerous as she hooked the back of his haori and dragged him into the house, feet sliding over the wooden floorboards as he struggled."I told you you are forbidden to touch anything!"_

"_I didn't—"_

"_Silence!" she threw him into a particular room he knew so well. She took the thin cane of the top of a cupboard, advancing. "I took you in because you have nowhere to go and all you do is take up money in this household. Useless!" she screamed, pointing the cane at him. _

_He was backed up against the wall, and there was nowhere to run. "Oba-san—"_

"_I am not your oba-san!" she hissed. "I no longer had a sister when she started dating that foreigner," she spat like it was a bad taste on her tongue."Such a shame to the family…"_

_She gripped his ankle, raising the cane. "Remember it well, boy," she mercilessly whipped the cane across the sole of his foot, earning a whimper as a thin line of blood trickled. "You are unwanted,"_

_Another slash._

"_Discarded,"_

_Another slash._

"_Abandoned,"_

"Kanda…"

He jolted as he felt something squeeze his hands. Reiichi was staring at him worriedly, her hands over his. She gently pried his clench fist open, revealing shards of ceramic and dotted spots of blood where the broken cup had pierced him. Odd, he couldn't even feel anything. He sat there zoning out as she cleaned his hands, bloodied tissues thrown on the table and the shards placed at another side.

Reiichi really didn't know what to do. She had been sitting across him for nearly an hour now while he kept silent, and it was really starting to scare her. There wasn't much she could say because she didn't yet fully understand what was affecting him so, so she settled on waiting for him to say something. She nearly got a heart attack when the cup in his hands shattered and he was still clenching his fists further, cuts getting deeper. His hands lay numb in hers.

She moved to the other side of the table and sat down beside him quietly.

Two more hours passed. She couldn't feel her legs anymore from all that sitting. She wanted to do something, just anything, to make him stop being so depressing. She considered hugging him, but she didn't know if it would be welcome. She settled for speaking.

"Tiedoll-san won't force you if you don't want to go," she said softly.

"Do you think…" He said after a while, voice was flat and nearly vulnerable. "….I should go?"

A sour feeling clenched her heart at his question and tone of voice. His gaze was still fixed on his hands.

"It's your decision, Kanda," she said finally. "But…"

He raised up his head to look at her. She could see the pain that was usually hidden beneath his dark eyes, but this time it was clear for her to witness. How much did his childhood traumatize him?

"I don't think you should go,"

* * *

Because Kanda was obviously not in shape to cook, nor did he want to eat, Reiichi left him sitting at the table to prepare dinner. Although they ate soba for lunch, she was cooking it again because she only knew soba as his comfort food. If it was her, she would be eating ice cream or chocolate or something sweet, but he hated sweet things.

She brought two steaming bowls of hot soba to the living room table, placing one in front of him. He didn't react. She forced his hand to hold chopsticks. "Eat," she commanded.

She started first; watching at the corner of her eye as Kanda reluctantly took up some noodles in his chopsticks because it would have been a perfectly good waste of soba. A frown passed his features as he choked on the first bite, and then coughed as he swallowed it down. The noodles were softer than he was used to. At least, she made the broth right, but then again, you couldn't go wrong if they were prepacked seasonings.

"You overcooked it," he complained, a familiar scowl on his face back, but he continued to dig in.

The soup warmed up his stomach, and he was starting to feel his hunger as he ate more.

"I did not," she denied, huffing, but she was smiling nonetheless.

* * *

**Owari.**

The soba making scene was actually planned for some other time, but I had no idea when to fit it in the story, so it randomly popped up in this chapter… That was entirely for my own amusement. I learnt to make soba while I was in Japan last year and it was pretty fun. My family was cutting _mee sua _and _kuay teow_ instead of soba HAHAHA. I'd recommend anyone to try it~ (and then you can be just a tiny bit closer to Kanda)

The idea behind Kanda's past was to show the reason why he has his rude behavior. He holds a sort of anger that people are practically worshipping him now but no one ever bothered with him in the past. He prefers being alone not because he really likes it but he's used to it because he was alone most of the time when he was young.

I failed to make him spill about his past to Reiichi. Why Kanda? Why are you so difficult?

Some of you were interested about what happened between Kanda and Lulubell, of which I must admit I conveniently used her without much thought HAHA. Well, what really happened will come later I suppose….

I apologise for taking so long although this chapter was written way long ago. I'm actually having a very bad writer's block in the next chapter which I have been sitting on for more than a week *frustrated* D: Thank you very much for the reviews too~ I do really appreciate constructive criticisms!


	24. Chapter 23

**-Imitation Black-**

**

* * *

**

"Lavi, stop sulking," Lenalee chided, cutting up her salmon.

"But Lenaleeeee…" he whined, half chewed food still in his mouth. "I can't believe neither of them told me! Especially Rei-chan!" he was nearly sobbing now. "How could she?"

"Did you ever think," Allen spoke up between chews. "That she _forgot_ to tell you?"

Lavi looked horrified.

"We don't have photographic memory," Lenalee reminded him, although it wasn't necessary since he shouldn't have forgotten that they didn't have photographic memory, unlike he did.

Because he went to work alone today, he didn't have his beloved friend and cousin to drag out for lunch. So he settled for Lenalee and Allen, whom he had called out without Komui's notice, and of course, bribed Allen with free food. They were at a decent cafeteria with decent prices, so his wallet was not going to burn as much as the last time in the Japanese restaurant.

"Anyway, weren't you surprised he didn't ask you to stay in the first place?" Lenalee asked, popping a piece of fish in her mouth.

"Well, yeah…" Lavi sucked at his drink slowly. "Yuu has this anal _thing_ about not being with Tiedoll alone, but I thought he called you or something," he paused. "Or even Allen-chan,"

The white hair boy choked. "The last time I met Tiedoll-san," he forced the meat he was chewing down. "He thought I was BaKanda's girlfriend!" he half shouted indignantly.

Lavi snickered. "Well, you are kind of short—"

"Fun sized," Allen corrected.

"—And you are kind of pretty—" the red head leaned closer, smirking. "Hey baby, wanna have a go with me?"

The boy with the scar made no hesitation to swipe at the other while the other dodged laughingly. Well, it wasn't Lavi's fault that he couldn't flirt with Lenalee because Komui had some goddamn sister complex sensor, so he settled for the next best thing.

"Your perverted tendencies aside," Lenalee was saying, "Isn't it a good thing Kanda-kun asked Reiichi instead?"

"Yeah," Allen nodded, taking another bite in the pizza he was devouring. "I would have thought you manipulated him to ask her actually,"

"It is…" Lavi drew idle circles on the table, but there was just something in him that kept bugging him. Well yes, it was a good thing because it showed that Kanda trusted his cousin on a pretty high level, but the problem was that they were doing things without him. That was unacceptable. "But…" he frowned. "Why did he only ask Rei-chan? It's good that Yuu likes her and all but he knows _I _can be serious if it's another one of his family thingamajigy—"

"If it's one of his family problems, then I think Kanda-kun was right in choosing Reiichi," Lenalee nodded slowly.

"Why?" the red head pouted. "Am I not his best friend in like forever and forever and forever—"

"Because," Allen cut in, exasperated. For someone who proclaims to be the homicidal Japanese's best friend which was suicidal in itself, Lavi sure asked the most ridiculous questions. "You would be too busy fanboying with Tiedoll-san about BaKanda's god know what for anything _serious _to even happen,"

"BaKanda hates me," he continued, rolling his eyes for the obvious statement. "And Lenalee, well," he paused, sending a look of apology to the Chinese, "You meddle too much," to which the girl shrugged acceptingly.

"Reiichi's a good choice," Lenalee affirmed again. "She's smart. She can the read the atmosphere and act accordingly. More importantly," the model looked at Lavi for emphasis. "She won't try to wheedle the most embarrassing moment of his life out of Tiedoll-san,"

"But I already know about the most embarrassing moment of his life!" The photographer whined. "I begged him for a _year_ to meet Tiedoll and now Rei-chan's only met him for a _month_—"

Lenalee and Allen stared at him, mouth agape until the white haired boy decided to say something.

"Lavi, are you…jealous…" he paused, hesitant. "…of Reiichi?"

The red head blinked. Then blinked some more. "Why would I ever be jealous of the person I love the most?"

"Because," Lenalee threw Allen a look that told him she'd handle this and he smiled gratefully back. Sometimes geniuses were harder to talk to than idiots. Worse if the person is both. "If you're really serious about getting them both together, you have to accept the fact that they might leave you behind one day,"

He didn't even have to think for his reply.

"Pssh, as if Yuu can live without me," Lavi snorted, while the other two sighed wearily. Well, they tried. "Speaking about my awesome matchmaking plan in progress," he beamed widely, "I believe you've lost the bet Moyashi-chan,"

"W-what?" Allen spluttered. He never loses bets. Ever.

"I bet that Yuu would kiss Rei-chan by the end of the week," Lavi grinned triumphantly. "Turns out, he did,"

"You're lying," the other stared.

"Nope, it was mouth to mouth," he said smugly.

For some reason, Allen straightened up, relaxed, calm and collected with a smile on his face. "Would you be talking about Reiichi's near drowning experience?"

Lavi gaped. "How did you know—"

"Cheater," the white haired boy stuck out his tongue. "CPR doesn't count,"

"I have to agree with Allen-kun on this," Lenalee was chuckling at the face Lavi was making.

"Why do all of you know about it?" the red head whined, pointing at them dramatically. "I wanted to relate the fabulous story of how Yuu risked his life—"

"Kanda's life wasn't in any danger…" Allen muttered under his breath.

"—through the thrashing waves and currents Yuu fought valiantly against to save his one true love!"

Lenalee smiled fondly at his far fetch declaration. "It's the latest gossip," she explained. "Especially about Kanda-kun blowing his top at Daisya-kun…"

"Word gets around fast, huh," Lavi slumped. His epic debut at storytelling would have to be postponed another day.

* * *

Lavi came over that night with three boxes of chocolate like he knew there was some cheering up to do. Dark chocolate for Kanda, milk chocolate for her and white chocolate for him. Lavi noticed that particular look Kanda always had when he was confronted with his childhood, but was relieved to see it was just a trace of it left. Seemed like his cousin had done something.

He would ask Kanda about what occurred when it was more private, he decided, so he focused on cheering the depressed samurai up first. He forced everyone to sit on the couch while he slotted in a DVD he had brought.

"What are we watching?" Reiichi asked, helping herself to the chocolates.

"You'll see," he replied cheerfully, working the remote.

He watched quietly as Reiichi offered a milk chocolate to Kanda who merely raised an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes, popping it in her own mouth, then took a dark chocolate and offered that to him. Kanda again was giving her the same look.

"Come on, endorphins are good for you," she tried to make him take it.

"I told you I fucking hate sweet things," his friend was insisting.

Reiichi was raising the chocolate near enough to his friend's mouth that she could feed him, that was when Lavi decided to cut in. They were acting a little different toward each other. What had happened exactly? He bounced back happily, squishing himself between Kanda and his cousin who, in his opinion, were sitting _far too close_ together to be _just friends_. Lavi ate the dark chocolate off his cousin's fingers.

"Blergh," he scrunched up his face. "It's so bitter!"

Reiichi snorted, shifting a bit to give him space. "What did you expect? You brought this for someone who hates sweet things,"

"Rei-chan," Lavi had an arm around them both, hugging their necks. "If you want to feed Yuu-chan, you must say it like "Yuu~ Here comes the train~ Say Ahh~""

The other two cringed at the cheesiness that was overflowing with his tone of voice. "Who the fuck would do that?" Kanda turned away, disgusted.

"Ooh! So you do want her to feed you—"

"I never said that—"

Reiichi rapped Lavi's skull before he could continue, glaring at him, annoyed. He pouted. The movie on the screen came on, and he gripped Kanda tighter in case the man tried to run away.

"Oh fuck, not another one of this…" Kanda groaned, slapping his forehead.

Of all movies, Lavi had chosen another _Austin Powers_ movie. The last time Lavi swore that Austin Powers was one of the most awesome and _life changing_ movies there were, he thought it wouldn't hurt to watch it. Turns out it was one of the biggest regret he held in his life, for the red head kept mouthing innuendos from the movie for nearly a week afterwards. To make it worse, he could hear Austin's particular tone of seduction in every of Lavi's words. He shuddered.

He reluctantly focused his attention on screen as the other two fell silent, watching raptly. A man with black dorky specs and a brunette bounced on the bed, presumably after a round of love making. Things got weird as the man flickered with the remote, noting that his woman was acting weird. Then he found out she was a robot.

"_I can't believe Vanessa, my bride, my one true love, the woman who taught me the beauty of monogamy, was a fembot all along." _Austin took the robot hand glumly. _"Wait a tick," _he brightened up._ "That means I'm single again! Oh behave!"_

Cue the man dancing naked in some hotel.

Um, yeah, Kanda was seriously questioning Lavi's sanity right now, as he friends started to laugh hysterically. To make it worse, Reiichi was also starting to snicker. The movie went on, and the laughter was getting louder with each scene.

_Austin sauntered into a shooting location, grinning up at a blonde female model who smiled seductively back. __"Austin Powers, I've heard a lot about you. I'm Rebecca Romijn. I don't believe I've had the pleasure," she purred._

_**"**__Well, of course you haven't had... _the pleasure_, Rebecca," Austin smirked right back. "We just met, baby, yeah,"_

Oh god. Kanda noticed Lavi mouthing the exact same words. No doubt the photographer would be trying it on some unfortunate girl or something.

_Austin readied his camera as the two female models on set posed. "__OK, you're an animal! Yes, there we go—"_

What the fuck?

"_You're a tiger! You're Tony the Tiger! You're grrreat! Very good. Loving it,"Austin grinned, making scratching cat paws in the air._

" _Now you're a lemur. Running as a pack. We go left," the models turned left. "We go right," they turned right."There's a predator out of the jungle. What's going on? Burrow!" they crouched down and dug furiously._

He was seriously getting weirded out.

"_That's right, you're a lemur. That's all you've got. You don't have sharp teeth capable of biting. Make an interconnected series of tunnels like the Viet Cong. And look," he finally finished. "I'm not even shooting you. It's crazy," Austin tossed the camera away as someone behind lunged to catch it. "And I'm spent,"_

"I should try that," Lavi laughed, clutching his stomach. He was grinning suggestively at Kanda who threatened to strangle him.

Reiichi was too busy gasping for air between her laughter to put in her comment. The ridiculous movie went on, and Kanda was very tempted to commit seppuku to save his sanity but that would be a major loss in the world because the universe would miss his face. And body. And well, him, in general.

"_Well, looks like you have a choice, Mr. Powers. Save the world, or save your girlfriend," Dr Evil intoned, smirking._

_"Austin!__" A blonde girl screamed from where she was caged._

_Austin's eyes widened. "Felicity!"_

_"Don't worry about me, Austin! You've got to save the world!__"_

_Suddenly, another Austin jumped into the scene, having arrived from the time machine. "__I choose love baby!__ "_

_"Wait a tick," the original Austin paused, staring. "Who are you?"_

_"I'm you ten minutes from now,__" Future Austin informed._

_The other paused, sizing his other self up. "Damn it. You are handsome, baby, yeah!__ "_

_Original Austin laughed. "I was just thinking the same,"_

_"We are sexy!__" they both smirked._

"We are sexy bitches, yes!" Lavi shouted in sync, pumping his fist in the air.

Reiichi chortled while Kanda shifted as much as he could away from Lavi, not wanting to be associated with him.

Was this movie ever going to end?

* * *

Kanda groaned, opening his eyes blearily. He couldn't feel his legs at all, and he tried to shift them, but there was something heavy on them. He glanced down briefly. A body was sprawled on his lap. Then he realized that there was something else leaning on his right, an arm wrapped around the front of his waist. Reiichi was sleeping right on him, head turned into his neck while she rested the rest of her weight on his right arm. On his lap, Lavi was lying over it, his friend's head resting on Reiichi's lap, the redhead's chest and torso on him, while the legs were stretched to the other end of the couch.

How exactly did he end up in this position?

He knew Lavi was between Reiichi and him before they all slept somewhere in the night, thus the only conclusion was that the photographer was trying something funny again. He was tempted to shove them off but he only had one free hand that felt too numb, and it wouldn't be strong enough to push Lavi off. He looked around. The light from the television was still on, but there was no sound.

A tickling at his collarbone caught his attention and he realized it was just Reiichi breathing out. He tried to peel her arm around him off, but she just snuggled deeper in her sleep, thinking he was a bolster. He frowned, giving up after a while. He stared at the ceiling for a few moments, then turned back to look at her curiously. A warm feeling spread across his chest as he savoured the stillness of the night. It was the same feeling as when they were playing with flour earlier and he caught her in midfall. It wasn't like he planned to catch her or anything but it'd be a bloody mess if she fell and cracked her head. It also wasn't planned that he suddenly had found her eyes curiously a shade darker than Lavi's…

How strange that he was letting her lie on him like that. The only other girl he would allow would be Lenalee, but she was not like Lenalee at all. Lenalee was more open with her feelings, always coming to him when she needed help. Reiichi never voluntarily sought help from him, but he found himself pulled into her problems anyway. In such a short time, he had cooked for her nearly every day, comforted her once, saved her thrice, gotten angry on her behalf thrice, suffered under her cousin's constant teasing and match making plans… he didn't even go through a fraction of that with Lenalee. He could still remember the very first day he met her, a girl dead intent on ignoring his top model status. So different from his hoards of fans who declared their love for him unabashedly. He was always just_ Kanda _to her, and not _Kanda Yuu_.

The particular scent of her shampoo wafted to his nose, then the kind of perfume she put on. It was distinctly lavender, the flowery scent not too overpowering and…a little comforting. The light illuminated part of her face, curving over her cheekbones and to the edge of her nose, down to her lips. Her lips were a little dry, he noticed, but that could be due to the air conditioning or that she wasn't wearing any lipstick or lip gloss. All the girls he'd met always wore those sticky disgusting gel on their lips, but Rei didn't bother. Her lips parted slightly, letting out a soft breath as she breathed out, passing over his collarbone again and this time, a heated sensation started to crawl up his neck now that he was fully awake.

Would she taste the same as the other girls without the lipstick? Maybe it would be different. Less plastic-like and not disgustingly sweet. Then again, she ate so much sweet things that it'd be a wonder if she didn't taste sweet. No, that was a stupid theory…but it couldn't hurt to test it out. She was still sleeping soundly… and there was this adrenaline that was egging him on. She wouldn't have to know.

Maybe…he could just…

Before he leaned further forward, he felt a painful pinch on his thigh and he jerked back. He traced the source to a hand which belonged to Lavi who was apparently now awake and watching him.

"Yuu… what are you trying to do?" Lavi glared at him, annoyed.

Kanda turned away, heat rising to his face at being caught. "Che," There was no way to deny whatever he was trying to do because it was too obvious that Lavi had been watching him since the beginning. He would never be living this down.

Lavi shifted, still pinning him with a look. "If you wanna kiss her, then do it right,"

"I don't want—"

"Then what was that, huh?" the friend stared at him expectantly, serious.

"Shut up," he denied, closing his eyes in aggravation.

"I'm being serious here, Yuu," the redhead placed cross his arms behind his head, still lying on Rei's lap. "Rei-chan isn't the same with the others. If you don't like her, then don't even think about touching her,"

Kanda kept his mouth shut, knowing that if he said anything more, it'd be digging his own grave. Lavi frowned at how his friend was trying to avoid the topic. Well okay, he could understand if Kanda was acting upon the 'do first, think later' rash behavior the model sometimes had, and needed time to actually understand what he was trying to do in the first place—but this was about Reiichi.

"So, what was that about?" he prodded.

"Just…" Kanda struggled to put it in words, but 'wondered how lips without lipstick tasted like' probably wasn't a good idea. In fact, it sounded entirely stupid right now and he wondered just what the hell he was thinking. Now that he was thinking of it, why did he even think about kissing Reiichi? She was a…what was she to him anyway?

Best friend's cousin?

A housemate?

A friend?

Then again, he never considered kissing Lenalee. That was just…_wrong_ on so many levels (and Komui would do unspeakable things to him).

"Just…shut up," he finally decided.

Lavi huffed, sitting up from his position and purposely digging a sharp elbow into Kanda's thigh in the process, feeling a bit of satisfaction from the sharp hiss and curse from his friend's lips. He eased himself beside his friend now, slinging one arm over the other and ignoring the glare that was directed at him. The room was eerily silent now that both of them had stopped talking. It was nostalgic, because both of them used to talk through the night back in high school when Lavi had insomnia (he still sort of did) and Kanda couldn't sleep because of his nightmares.

"What did Tiedoll come for?" Lavi straightforwardly dived into topic. It was their style, since beating around the bush really irritated his friend.

"That bitch asked the old man to make me go see her, since she's dying and all," Kanda scowled, leaning his head back on the couch and staring at the ceiling. No explanations were needed, because Lavi more or less knew his story.

"Are you going then?"

Kanda shrugged carelessly.

The red head hummed. "Then what did Rei-chan say?"

"Why would she say anything?" The model glanced at him with his eyebrows knitted together.

"Well, surely you asked her for her opinion right?"

"How the fuck do you know that?" Kanda stared at him, incredulous.

"I've know you better than you know yourself," Lavi actually rolled his eyes. "So?"

"She said…not to go,"

"Hmm…" The photographer was staring to grin freakishly as he rubbed his chin and it was starting to get on his nerves.

"What?"

"If she said for you to go," His friend was having entirely too much fun now, Kanda decided, seeing the disturbing smile stretch wider and wider. "She would be merely agreeing with Tiedoll, am I right?"

"Get on with it," he growled impatiently.

"But the fact that she said not to go although that's clearly not what your old man wants, it means that she's thinking of your wellbeing,"

Lavi paused dramatically, letting his words sink in.

"Thinking of your interests," he continued.

"Thinking of _you_," he emphasized.

"I get it already so stop that!" Kanda glared harder, trying to use his free arm to press into Lavi's neck painfully.

Lavi managed to hug that arm tightly and thus was not strangled. "Sheesh, I'm just making a point here that's all,"

"An unnecessary point," his friend muttered, not liking at all at how he was being used like a hugging post by both redheads.

The male redhead leaned across the model's chest to poke his cousin's cheek softly, signaling the end of their heart to heart conversation.

"She's so cute, isn't she?" Lavi cooed, brushing a stray lock of hair that covered her face.

Kanda rolled his eyes and leaned back to face the ceiling again. It was not like it was the first time Lavi was fanboying over his own cousin. Whether she was cute or not didn't really matter to him. Well, most of the things Lavi considered cute were strange—like Katamari—he didn't get what was so cute about the bean head figurine.

Thank god Rei wasn't strange.

* * *

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned…" Lavi intoned with a far away gaze in his eyes. "Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned…"

"Isn't it 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'?" Reiichi asked, swirling the bowl of miso soup in her hands absently.

"That's a fucking misquote," Kanda muttered, stabbing the tofu cube in the soup rather viciously.

The trio was having their lunch in the kitchen of their basement of _Innocence _headquarters, where Lavi remembered that he hadn't told Reiichi about the theme for this week. It was already Tuesday, and by right Reiichi should be discussing the set with Allen by today. Unfortunately things had dragged. Seeing her schedule now, she'd have to rush this week.

Odd, because she ever since she dropped out of the Black Academy, there was just so much time she could waste. But this week was different, because she had Anita's outfit that was due by tomorrow, which meant that she couldn't start on the Lavi's project until Thursday, and they'd have to do the shoot by Friday, latest.

Ack.

If Kanda complained about what she'd be burning the midnight oil (she predicts) to make, she'd definitely kick him.

"How do_ you_ know that?" she glanced at the model rather suspiciously.

He glared back, eyes narrowed to a challenging tint. "Are you implying something?"

"Maybe," Honestly she wasn't even thinking of anything but just plain curiosity on why he was so sure of himself, but it she couldn't help the flippant shrug that Kanda most likely took as insulting.

"Yuu knows what he's saying, Rei-chan," Lavi cut in before Kanda retorted. "It's a line from The Mourning Bride, act three scene eight. Yuu took English literature with me back in high school,"

Kanda smirked triumphantly.

"But you kinda sucked," Lavi teased, dodging the predictable swipe to his head.

"That old bitch was just goddamn _biased_—" Kanda started, scowling as he remembered how unfair their literature teacher was. She fucking _failed_ him in the last semester, but luckily his overall grade was still a pass.

"No, you just threatened to screw her _mother_, of course she had to take the necessary course of disciplinary action—" Lavi grinned, circling a lazy finger at him.

"She was trying to come on to _me_ in the fucking first place—"

"You threatened to screw your teacher's _mother_?" Reiichi frowned at Kanda, horrified.

Kanda nearly banged the table with his ever tightening fist with frustration. "All I said to the bitch was '_fuck your mother_' and that's because _she_ fucking tried to _sleep _with me!"

Silence reigned for a few seconds after Kanda's outburst.

"Aww, you sound so defensive~!" The photographer beamed. "It's so cute~!"

"I'll show you cute, baka usagi," the model threatened, picking up his chopsticks and pointing it at the other dangerously.

Lavi gulped inaudibly remembering the other time when he was chased with those pointy objects. It did not end well.

"Why?" Reiichi asked. "She wasn't attractive enough?"

Kanda snorted. "She was fucking married,"

Well. At least she now knew Kanda maybe had some morals about breaking up marriages. Then again, it was kind of disturbing to know that even a married woman was after him in high school. Was he really that good looking then? Or was he more good looking now? She squinted at Kanda curiously.

The grin came back on Lavi's face. "Why, Rei-chan, are you curious about Yuu's criteria for girls?"

Her eyes slid to her cousin's teasing grin. "No, I could care less, really,"

"Well Yuu's type of girl—" He began anyway.

"Tch, I don't have a type, dumbass," Kanda tried to say.

"—is someone who can make and cook soba and won't annoy him. Pretty simple right?"

"Well good luck with that," Reiichi stated blandly. "Everyone annoys him,"

"Damn straight," Kanda agreed.

The designer paused suddenly, a thought entering her mind. If he couldn't stand people, then every girl he had been with would have been one night stands or something, but… "Then what about Lulubell?"

Upon hearing her name, the model stiffened, eyes going ice cold and an even darker aura gloomed around him. "That's none of your business," he growled harshly.

Reiichi flinched a little at his tone, heart clenching just for a moment. Kanda stood up abruptly, striding out of the room swiftly. A loud slam of the door of his personal room sounded a few seconds later. The two relatives could only stare at his retreating back wordlessly. Why was it that every time she said something that affected him made her feel so…so…_guilty_? It had been an innocent question. It wasn't like she wanted to upset him or anything.

Awkward silence filled the kitchen for a minute.

"…How do you know about her?" Lavi asked quietly.

"From Daisya-san,"

That photographer was so going _down_, Lavi thought viciously. Reiichi wasn't supposed to know anything about it. It was better this way since Kanda (well, and him too) were having heavy issues with the Noah at the moment. He scrutinized the unreadable expression his cousin was staring at her bowl with, wondering what she was thinking about.

"Well…" he scratched his head. "Yuu really doesn't like to be reminded of that so…Anyway you haven't guessed the theme yet, Rei-chan," he changed the topic cheerily, clapping his hands together.

Luckily his cousin caught on fast and took the chance to change the atmosphere. "'It's _Wrath_,"

"Bingo!" Lavi gave her a thumbs up enthusiastically.

Honestly, it wasn't that hard to guess, seeing that they were only down to two more themes: Wrath and Pride. Only two more…that meant only two more weeks of this project and it'll be over. It sounded a little disappointing now that it was ending so soon. She did have fun with Kanda as her model. Sort of.

If this was over…what would she be doing then?

* * *

This was getting ridiculously stupid.

For the past few hours Reiichi was cooped up in her workroom stitching Anita's outfit together, yet the process was coming along so slowly because she couldn't concentrate. She had pricked her finger thrice, gotten frustrated at putting the thread through the needle seven times, and nearly sliced her hand while using the cutter.

The worst part of all was what she was thinking about.

It had started as a relatively reasonable thought. She was still feeling a bit guilty to Kanda, so she contemplated saying something to him. But then again she herself was feeling a little weird at the thought of Kanda being attached to Lulubell in the past. The woman was certainly attractive, but what made her different from the other girls so much so that Kanda chose her for a period of time?

It really wasn't any of her business, like he said, so she pushed the thought back to the recesses of her mind.

But there were other questions that resurfaced. If it wasn't about Kanda's girl history, then it was his childhood. What she gleamed from yesterday was that his aunt had abused him in the past. He didn't want to see her, but wouldn't she have a lot of publicity by just declaring she was related to Kanda Yuu? Then what about Zuu and Alma? And how did Tiedoll come to adopt him instead?

But like her, she wouldn't have wanted anyone to ask her about her phobia of storms, so she kept her questions of him to herself. She could not deny that witnessing his utter most vulnerable state she knew she'd ever see was something that she would guard heavily. Likewise, he was doing the same for her, and thus it was an unspoken contract out of respect.

She nearly snipped off a wrong portion of the fabric but luckily paused before she pressed the edges of the scissors together. Annoyed, she glared at the inanimate object as though it was its fault. Why was she thinking about things related to Kanda? Whatever that happened to him never bothered her in the past.

Yet it was undeniable that her life was getting entwined with his. It was hard not to, especially since they lived together and worked together. It was nearly 24/7 of together time. Things were changing, and she knew. It started from the fake dinner date they both were tricked into. First it was the unsettling nervousness that never had reason to occur until then. Then it was how hurt she had felt when he drove off without her and the slight elation when she realized he actually cared about her. It felt nearly special. He saved her from a possible death through mouth to mouth—

At this she stilled, a sudden blush spreading across her cheeks. She dropped the needle that was in her hands, freezing in sudden realization as her traitorous heart started to pump abnormally faster than it should have. She gave a heavy sigh and planted her face into her crossed arms on the table, willing herself to calm down. It was no big deal. Tyki Mikk did worse, because she actually felt it. But the thought of Kanda doing it was no better, because he was someone she denied from the very beginning.

Then what was the heart racing feeling she got when he was teaching her to cut the soba noodles? Was that merely her own imagination, because she was deprived enough to imagine a domestic romantic scene as she had never been intimate with everyone before? Or what about the time when he caught her before she fell when they were battling with flour? That intense look in his eyes was nothing short of hypnotic.

…

…Nothing short of hypnotic? What the heck was she thinking such disgusting lines of praise? On his looks no less.

Well, there was no denying he had this special elegance and beauty, even with his coarse choice of language. She had passed other _Innocence_ models, or other models who came to be shot by Lavi, and she found herself increasingly disappointed as none of the models came up to par the way she was used to Kanda's modeling. It was the smallest things such as the way they positioned their feet or hands, but somehow it just wasn't the same.

Now she was sounding like someone she would have laughed at from before she met Kanda.

Ugh. She was losing her mind, she was sure of it.

* * *

There were some things Lavi could forgive, but anything rude towards to his cousin was not on the list. In his defense, he had already given Kanda some space to brood over the decidedly sensitive topic, so it was entirely reasonable that he tackled the other once the model stepped out of his room. To anyone who would have stumbled across the scene of the redhead dragging the Japanese to Reiichi's workroom, it would have looked like a prelude to a rape scene or something.

"Yuu~" Lavi whined, trying to glomp the other while the model grappled with him roughly. "Just do it~"

"No!" Kanda hissed rather angrily, swatting away the hands that were trying to grab him. "I am not going to fucking apologize for something that I don't need to!"

"I'm just saying you were kind of harsh, man," the redhead insisted and succeeded in throwing one arm around him.

The Japanese snorted. "Well fuck, I don't care," he replied. "She had no business in asking about _her_,"

"It's natural to be curious, Yuu," Lavi frowned. "Rei-chan looked kind of hurt when you slammed your door. You know she won't pry if you just say so. She hasn't asked you anything since Tiedoll's visit, has she?"

Kanda scowled in annoyance. "I know that you retard. That's why I said it was none of her business,"

"You didn't have to sound so angry when you said it," His friend pouted, grumbling. "Now go and apologise!"

"Fuck no—"

Therein started another grappling session, where Lavi tried to shove Kanda into Reiichi's workroom while the other struggled with much force. A series of grunts and loud curses later, the redhead managed to pull the other to the front of her door, taking advantage of the fact that yes, he was indeed taller and heavier than the model. Unfortunately or fortunately, since the door swung forwards to open, Lavi just had to turn the knob and press the other man against it with his weight, and both of them went toppling into the room loudly. The photographer's hand was still on the knob when they tumbled in, and thus he could shoot the model a wink and slip back out the doorway quickly, slamming the door shut in his friend's face.

"FUCKING USAGI OPEN THE DOOR AND I'LL GRANT YOU A QUICK PAINLESS DEATH!" Kanda shouted furiously from the other side, trying the turn the knob.

For some reason, Lavi was able to lock it from the other side. To make matters worse, the photographer was leaning against the door whistling obliviously, because the workroom Reiichi and Kanda was in was soundproofed.

The picture of Kanda struggling with the doorknob was upmost hilarious, Reiichi thought, as she watched bemusedly as the model tried to maul her workroom door. She had gotten the shock of her life when her door slammed open allowing a string of expletives and grumbles from two males that stumbled in, face colouring just a little when one of the said males was her current object of guilty wonderings. Nonetheless, the feeling quickly faded to diluted horror when she realized her dearest cousin had effectively locked Kanda in with her for unknown reasons. If she already had trouble concentrating without him, his current presence was making it all the more worse.

Kanda groaned and hit his head quite painfully against the locked door, muttering his complex death plans for his soon to be deceased best friend. He had an appointment to go to dammit, and being late was not one of his habits. (By Kanda's definition of late, he means at least half an hour early.) Reluctantly he shifted his gaze to the only other occupant in the room. Reiichi was staring rather determinedly at the cloth which her fingers were stitching expertly. Her eyes once or twice strayed, but she stayed stubbornly quiet, as though he wasn't in the room at all. Was she angry about just now, and thus ignoring him now? Well, he knew she could hold a grudge, but this was just being petty.

He was obviously _not_ going to do whatever Lavi was trying to force him to do.

He settled for scrutinizing her, since she didn't look like she was going to talk soon. But then again, she didn't look angry. The crease in her forehead didn't look like anger but instead, frustration. The pursed lips looked rather annoyed than hurt. It still didn't change the fact that she was blatantly ignoring him though.

Folding his arms, he leaned against the wall, continuing to watch quietly. The piece she was sewing was coming together on the mannequin. She was always making male clothing for him, and thus the sudden more effeminate outfit that was displayed looked a little odd to him. But that could be because she always made weird clothing anyway. This time was no different.

He could tell Anita's outfit was inspired very much from a traditional Japanese kimono, except it was reversed. The basic fabric was of a soft lavender shade, and the edges rimmed white. The front was fully covered with a high collar and three peonies embroidered in just a shade darker to stand out. The cloth flowed to the back to meet in a low criss cross, much like the usual way of the front of the kimono, only to meet again in the front, creating a silky flow of fabric that would hug the hips nicely. The sleeves were left to flare out at the ends and layered with white. Curiously, Reiich was making baggy pants tapered to the ankles of a similar colour, making the entire outfit look less formal and more casual. The white and black striped cloth in her hands was most likely the modified obi she was making.

Though unfinished, he could tell it was a beautiful piece.

Vaguely, he wondered if how it'd be like if she herself wore it. Then again, the image didn't suit her at all. Clothes such as the one she was making was obviously fit for someone more mature. She was younger, more innocent than the outfit she was making. It wouldn't be her at all.

A still silence had settled in the room and Reiichi was relieved to feel his eyes shifted to the mannequin after a few seconds of intense staring at her. It was extremely unnerving. For some reason Kanda never felt abashed or awkward to stare at people, thus making the person themselves uncomfortable. Which was very unfortunate, because she was sure her heart was beating loud enough to be audible.

So what if she had been thinking about him for the past few hours? It didn't mean anything. She was just…curious. And worried, maybe. She forced herself to calm down—why did she even reach the state where she had to calm down?—and glanced at Kanda. He was just leaning against the door, arms crossed, facial expression unreadable. Maybe it was the way his eyes smoldered, or the fact that he was well, _Kanda Yuu_, but he was just standing there and yet it still looked like it was a shot worthy in the magazine.

His eyes suddenly flickered back to her form and his gaze met hers. She turned back to her task immediately, trying to pretend she really wasn't watching him just a second ago, but who was she kidding? Her fingers were trembling too much to poke the correct point in the fabric, and she scowled to herself. Ridiculous. Utter ridiculous. What was happening to her?

The tension in the air seemed to rise up a notch higher. They hadn't spoken since he was pushed in, and to speak now would be even more awkward.

"Yuu~" Lavi's voice suddenly rang, startling them both. "It's time for you to go," the male redhead poked his head through the doorway, looking at them curiously.

It didn't look like Kanda apologized or anything of the sort—not that he expected Kanda to do it, it was merely for his own amusement to lock them in—but it didn't look like they spoke at all. Kanda pushed himself off the wall, and yanked the door open wider roughly, glaring at him as he did so. Lavi expected his friend to well, attempt to kill him or something, but all Kanda did was to bump shoulders with him rather painfully as he strode past. Perhaps it was the trick of the eye, but the model actually looked…unsure.

"…Yuu?" he called out to the other fast retreating back.

Kanda ignored him, disappearing into the hallway towards the lift. There was something wrong going on. Lavi looked back to Reiichi who was still absorbed in doing her work, yet it seemed like while her physical body was there, her mind wasn't.

"Rei-chan?"

No answer.

Lavi frowned, dropping his grip on the door knob, walking closer to her. "Rei-chan…" he placed a hand on her shoulder, noting the vibration of shock that echoed through her body at his touch. "You seem really distracted…is something wrong?"

Reiichi looked as though she was caught red handed for a moment, but the expression was quickly replaced by a smile he knew to be fake. Her mouth opened as if to say something, and then closed it again. She did want to talk about it but when she tried to say something, there were just no words to explain her current messed up emotions.

"No…no…nothing's wrong," she replied finally, turning away to fuss at the mannequin.

Lavi took it as his dismissal. Whatever it is, he thought grimly, it better be solved soon, or he'd be forced to meddle.

* * *

**Owari.**

Happy Chinese New Year~ We welcome in the year of the Rabbit, which to my amusement, is indirectly Lavi's year hehehehe.

This chapter was actually the first half of the intended chapter 23 but I still having trouble with the second half so I figured I'd post this first...:/ I'm having second doubts on how the story is developing...do cut me some slack though - it's my first multi-chapter KandaOC fic, there's bound to be something I don't like about my own fic...

Austin Powers is seriously awesome. I just had to put that in for fun. The movie they were watching was _The Spy who Shagged Me, _of which I've watched 3 times in the past month XD


	25. Chapter 24

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

On Wednesday afternoon Reiichi found herself standing outside a private apartment complex, both hands full with her things. Apparently she was to attend the_ Valentino_ showcase as well, which Lavi thought it was most appropriate to tell her only yesterday night. Then again, she was supposed to know that her attendance was necessary from the beginning—Kanda said something similar before. But tt didn't really matter because she had one of the many unworn dresses in her closet anyway. Staring at the deep brown mahogany door, she tried to find a doorbell for her to press but there wasn't one.

After staring foolishly for a while, she decided to knock.

The door opened a minute later, but the one who opened it was not the person she was expecting. Anita was clearly female, but the person standing by the doorway was most certainly male and familiar. Liquid golden eyes, handsome features pulled to a lazy smirk and the unmistakable dark skin—Tyki Mikk. Only, he had a stubble on his chin like he hadn't shaved in a while, his hair in unruly curls and red rimmed glasses adorned his face.

"_Reiichi_," Yes, that was definitely him. No one else pronounced her name like so. "Did you miss me?"

She blinked in shock for a good few seconds before sighing in resignation. "Not as much as I would have liked," she muttered. "Am I at the right house?"

"Yes you are," he smiled, opening the door wider for her to enter.

In the side of the complex was even more impressive than she expected out of Anita. It felt very homely, with the majority of the décor made out of expensive wood. A Persian carpet lined the floor, feeling ridiculously soft beneath her bare feet. The corridor she was walking through had various art canvases hung against the white wall. Finally they came to the living room where a huge television screen took up one corner, and a beige couch took up another. In between, a low table much like Kanda's held a bowl of fruits. Tyki moved to pick an apple from the bowl, flipping it casually in his hand.

Anita was nowhere in sight and she realized she was alone with him. She tensed slightly, suddenly she feeling as though this was just a trap set by him to get her alone.

"Have a seat," he gestured gallantly to the couch.

She sat down because the things she was carrying were killing her arms. Tyki took the bags, placing them on the table.

"Where's Anita-san?" she asked, eyes scanning about to familiarize herself with the place.

"Taking her sweet time in the bathroom," he replied, sitting down beside her.

He took a bite from the apple, licking in a somewhat sensual manner as he ran his tongue across his palm to lap up the excess juice. She shifted slightly away.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm her escort for the night," he shrugged, then paused and cocked his head at her. "Why are you so fidgety?"

She glared slightly, annoyed. As if he didn't know. It was his fault that she still couldn't get over the fact that he did something quite unforgivable.

"_Reiichi…"_ he turned fully to face her, setting down his bitten apple on the table as he did so.

His voice was low, dark, and seductive. His eyes were gleaming brighter than ever, and a smirk was curving on his lips. He advanced closer, first an arm sliding on the edge of the couch behind her frame, then his body was coming nearer—a cold jolt rushed through her veins and she backed away from his predatory movement.

She found herself pressed against the side of the couch soon enough, a panicked head snapping up to meet his intense gaze. It was different from the charming smiles he usually wore. This was one much darker, much more dangerous. She froze, a chill seizing her lungs as her jaw set tightly in place.

The grin stretched even wider when he noted her fear, revealing his gleaming white canines. His other hand was deceivingly gentle on the edge of the couch, effectively trapping her.

"I think it's time for lesson number two…" he whispered low, head ducking lower with every intention to kiss her again.

Her mouth ran dry, but she had enough mind to push his chest rather harshly away. Unfortunately all it did was to abide time for her. He barely moved away, only that he was looking at her rather amusedly, now with an even more determined glint in his eyes.

"M-Mikk," she tried to hiss, but it came out as more of a stutter. "Stop it,"

It wasn't fair. He was attractive, cool, and suave. She did like his conversational skills, but not his touching habits. He was the more experienced, playboy extraordinaire, she was the innocent girl. What gave him the right to try and seduce her? She knew he didn't even like her that way (or did he even like her at all?).

Thankfully, another presence entered the living room and bopped Tyki's head rather painfully.

"Tyki Mikk," Anita frowned, hands on her hips in a white bathrobe, ignoring the Tyki's low mutterings to himself. "What are you trying to do?"

"I just wanted to give her a little kiss," he defended, shifting away to the other end of the couch, allowing Reiichi to sigh in relief as her personal space enlarged.

"Was it unwelcomed?" She looked rather angry, her tone was strict.

"Of course not—"

"I'm asking the girl, Tyki," Anita was now glaring at him. He wisely kept his mouth shut. "Did you want him to?" she turned to her, tone soft.

"No, I did not," Reiichi likewise shot Tyki her own glare, trying to cool her rapid heartbeat.

"There you have it,"

Tyki rolled his eyes."Well, _you_ never complained—"

Anita gave him an even more withering glare under which he faltered beneath. "A gentleman, you call yourself," she snorted. "It appears your skill is severely lacking these days,"

He sighed at the direct insult. He would never understand women. Firstly, why Reiichi even protested was beyond him. It was probably the first time a girl actually tried to _stop_ his advances. Willingly. He wasn't losing his touch, was he? Now…was he actually _doubting _himself? Strange. So strange. And now Anita was scolding him for something he _knew_ she herself wouldn't have minded. Where was the logic in that?

"I am so sorry about him," Anita began, cocking her head towards the model sitting languidly at his end of the couch like nothing occurred. "God knows he'd_ die_ from the lack of intimate physical female contact,"

Reiichi smiled faintly. "It's okay. You came in time,"

"Tyki, go clean yourself up," Anita ordered, and then frowned again. "Especially that facial hair of yours,"

"Yes, m'am," he waved a backward hand casually, getting up to saunter to the bathroom.

"Remember to do comb your hair!" she reminded as he walked away. "And don't you dare wear that hideous pair of fake glasses!"

In his defense, the pair of glasses was not hideous. Granted, he was not in his best presented state at the moment, but it didn't mean he didn't know how to dress himself. He shook his head. He would have thought Anita would have stopped her mothering habits on him, especially now that he was an experienced lady killer, ahem, famous model.

Well, at least he preferred her company over his brother's any day.

* * *

Anita was looking absolutely fantastic as she stepped out of the limousine, with white strappy heels. The lavender print of the outfit matched well with her fair complexion, and the obi particularly showed off her curves femininely. Her exposed back was clear and smooth, revealing her sculptured shoulder blades. Gold bangles clanked on her slim wrist, and like-coloured dangly earrings were worn. Red lipstick and her twisted bun braid made her look sultrier than ever as she smiled for the dozens of cameras that clicked the moment she put her foot on the red carpet.

Reiichi in contrast, was freaking out like hell on the inside. Compared to Anita, she was just wearing a simple off the shoulder emerald dress that flared out at the waist and came to her knees. She was feeling so inferior and overwhelmed at the number of people waving enthusiastically at their tinted limousine windows.

When Lavi said she was attending the _Valentino _showcase, she honestly expected something like the _Yves Saint Laurent_ one she had gone a few weeks ago. That one was a lot more low key and private. For this one, there was a red carpet walkway to the entrance, complete with security guards at the sides trying to keep photographers and screaming fans and interested non attendees at bay.

Tyki had exited the vehicle first, and the deafening declarations of love from his fans were nothing short of frightening. He shot a charming smile to some random direction, and sharp squeals emitted from the masses. He helped Anita out first, her posture erect and confident as she smiled for a shot before stepping away to allow Reiichi to step out.

Tyki grinned, holding a hand out. Normally she would have declined, but she was sure the media would say something about it, so she placed her hand in his. His warm hand held hers reassuringly, steadying her as she winced when the sudden flashes blinded her eyes. Yes, she was so not used to this.

"Tyki Mikk!" A reporter from the side waved enthusiastically at him, hand with a microphone stretched out. "I see that you're escorting two ladies tonight," he winked. "What's the special occasion?"

Tyki smirked, adjusting his arms so that he could guide them both. "The lovel y Anita-sama has always been one of my favourites," he answered, earning a playful smack from her. "And this is _Reiichi_, who has of late, caught my interest…"

Reiichi refrained from rolling her eyes and coughing. The reporter turned to her, curious. "You are Lavi Bookman's cousin, aren't you?"

"Yes…"

"And also Kanda Yuu's designer at the moment," he continued, a fire lighting up in his eyes. His notepad was out and ready, pen poised. "There are also rumours that you made the outfit Anita-sama is wearing at the moment. Is this true, Kuroshi-san?"

"Yes it is," she confirmed, finding her voice to answer.

"I would say she had me pleasantly surprised," Anita added in, winking at Reiichi. "She is one to look out for in the coming scene,"

"Y-yes, Anita-sama!" The report held on to her every word like the gospel, for any comment out of the head of _Vogue _Japan could potentially veer the entire fashion industry in any way she wanted.

"REI-CHAN~" the very familiar voice cut through their conversation.

Her cousin in a crisp black suit and tie, hair styled wild and a camera slung around his neck unabashedly ran towards her and hugged her tightly, scaring the heck out of Tyki and Anita.

"You look so pretty—wait a moment," he stepped back and took a picture quickly before she could even react. "Aww, you're so cute, I don't wanna let you go~" he launched forward again, rubbing his cheek against hers. "I haven't seen you for so many hours! It's been a torture standing here by myself!"

She laughed, an embarrassed smile on her lips as she tried to make him stop. They were in public, and the public had hoards of paparazzi taking pictures of the moment now.

"This is my one and only beloved cousin!" he declared to the reporter who was watching the scene with shinning eyes. "She is the one whom I will love forever and forever—"

"Lavi!" she tried to get him to stop rambling, but he merely kissed her cheek in response. He was being overly affectionate today.

Lavi smiled at his cousin, liking the way a true smile came back on her lips. She sounded so flat on the phone yesterday night, and…his gaze slid to the other male standing beside her watching them with a disturbed expression (Tyki couldn't help but notice Lavi was acting exactly like his deranged brother around his niece)…she had been in the presence of a deadly pervert. He frowned at Tyki.

"I thought I said one kilometer, Mikk," he pouted almost playfully, because the media was around. His words though, were more menacing than he sounded.

"I guess you forgot to apply for a restraining order, Bookman," the model shrugged.

"Boys," Anita cut in, eyeing the two, immediately sensing the hidden messages. "Whatever it is, take it outside,"

Reiichi had the urge to comment that they _were_ outside, but she figured that would be digging a grave for herself.

"Lady Anita," Lavi took Anita's hand and brushed it across his lips gently, "Thank you for taking care of my kin,"

Anita chuckled in response. "My offer still stands, Lavi Bookman. Vogue could really use a photographer such as yourself,"

"I will decline as usual," he bantered playfully. "Yuu especially needs_ constant_ _supervision_ from me,"

"Kanda Yuu…" she mused thoughtfully. "He hasn't paid me a visit for a while,"

Lavi snickered inwardly. The last time Kanda was dragged to _Vogue_, Anita had thought it was particularly fascinating at how androgynous he was. He had been forced into a traditional elaborate geisha outfit complete with the make up while Anita marveled at uh, how well he looked the part. Needlessly to say Kanda was holding some negative impressions about the lady.

"You could always ask Rei-chan to bring him along," Lavi shrugged, "He'll come,"

"Oh?" Anita asked, "Why is that so?"

"Because…" he whispered low, almost conspiratorially, that all three of the others leaned closer to listen. "Yuu is an overprotective _boyfriend_—"

"Lavi!" Reiichi hissed, slapping his arm. "Will you stop giving people ideas?"

"But it's the truth~!" he whined, clutching the sore spot on his arm.

"It's not!" she denied, face heating up just a bit as Anita started to nod her head and give her a knowing look.

Even Tyki was having the 'I knew it all along' expression. She glared at Lavi for the so not welcome plantation of ideas into their heads.

"My, my, Rei-chan, you're actually blushing!" Lavi teased. "I never said he was_ your_ boyfriend, Rei-chan," he waggled his eyebrows, grinning triumphantly. "Could it be?"

She tried really hard to keep her face serious and indignant so as to not betray her actual thoughts. She was horrified, because there was a possible chance that she was really blushing and not just a tease by her cousin, and she knew exactly why. For that one short moment, she had actually imagined…

Oh no.

No.

"N-no!" she answered, annoyed. Honestly her cousin was not making it any easier for her to forget Kanda and his mysterious ways.

"Still," she huffed, "You implied it,"

Lavi petted her head soothingly as he tried to cool her down. "I'm just kidding, you know that,"

"We'll make a move first," Anita smiled, tugging on Tyki's arm as a shout from another reporter on the other side caught her attention. "I'll see you two later,"

"Yeah, sure," Reiichi waved to them, only to pause in mid wave as Tyki sent her a smirk and wink before he turned away.

"Why that Noah…" Lavi muttered, glaring at the model's back.

"Cool it, Lavi," she sighed, linking her arms with his. "I'm with you,"

They walked in together, past more flashes of blinding light as Lavi occasionally stopped to pull her to pose. As they entered the marquee and cool air-conditioned air soothed over their forms, she asked the question that was bugging her ever since she saw her cousin.

"Where's Kanda?" she questioned, carefully keeping her voice neutral.

"He's walking the runway," he replied, then paused, looking at her. "Didn't he tell you?"

"No…"

They had barely spoken since yesterday actually. After the extremely awkward moment in her workroom, dinner at home was just as quiet. For some reason she couldn't bring herself to talk with him, and he seemed to react the same way.

She was declaring herself mentally insane by now. What had changed? Why was she suddenly aware of Kanda when they had been living and working together for a while now? It was fine in the beginning, but now she was not sure. It wasn't him, she knew. It was her. She was getting all jumpy and nervous for reasons unknown. Then in her mind, there was this whisper of thought that knew why she was feeling this way. Still, she refused to acknowledge it.

She just could not.

Once or twice she caught him giving her a particular unreadable look, and then a sigh and he never bothered to look at her again for the rest of the night. It was fine by her actually. The source of her current problem was Kanda, so if she avoided him for a while, maybe the weird feeling she was having would go away.

But she didn't expect to feel strangely empty at the same time.

"Lena-chan is modeling too," Lavi was saying. "Too bad Allen-chan couldn't make it. I'd bet he wanted to see Lenalee dressed up like in his wildest fantasies—"

Reiichi would have said that Lenalee wearing _Valentino_ clothes was probably not one of Allen's uh, wildest fantasies, but she let him ramble on, because it helped to distract her from her own traitorous thoughts.

* * *

The inside was different than what she expected. The people in it, though, were what she expected— the rich fashion-obsessed. There was no stage, but the chairs were lined in such a way that there was a zig zag runway that cut through the seating area. Lavi led the way to the front, plonking down to one of the seats in the middle and urging her to do the same.

"Rei-chan," Lavi peered at her, stopping in mid rant about something else she wasn't paying attention to. "Are you okay? Are you sick?" he pressed his forehead to hers, eyebrows knitted in concentration.

"I'm fine," she tried to say, but he was still looking at her worriedly when he pulled back.

"You feel a little warm, but that could be due to the air conditioning…"

"Lavi, really," Reiichi gave what she hoped was a smile.

He leaned back to his own chair, but she could tell he was unsatisfied. "You can talk to me about it, you know," he murmured, fiddling with his camera. "Especially if it's something about Yuu,"

Her breath got stuck upon his words. Did Lavi know already or was he just guessing? But precisely because it was about Kanda, that she was a little hesitant to tell Lavi about it. She had already ran over a few scenarios in her head, but all the reactions that she would predict her cousin to give were not what she wanted to face at the moment.

"I…"

Her words were cut off when the room suddenly dimmed, signaling the beginning of the showcase. Funny, she hadn't even heard people scuttling to their seats nor the customary announcement before the show began.

A spotlight shone on one end of the walkway, where Reiichi spotted Tyki and Anita sitting. A pale lean leg stepped onto the runway, and the light fully engulfed the figure. The audience was kept stunned as Lenalee stood upright, coy smile to her pouty lips and twirled her finger in one of her pigtails. The dress she had on was simple, white and pure. A faint diamond outline began from the center of just below her chest, and it expanded across her body, creating a symmetrical pattern that accentuated her slim figure. The long sleeves emphasized a demure girlish look and it was complete with silver heels.

Confident, Lenalee glanced around the audience for a few seconds, then stepped forward and began the runway walk. Whisperings murmured in the crowd, and Lavi whistled to himself as he readied his camera for a good shoot. She was looking like an angel sent from heaven today.

Her walk was graceful, elegant, beautiful. Like Kanda, Lenalee's strut on the runway was so different from her usual strides. It was starting to intimidate Reiichi, for she had no idea how different she was with Lenalee until today. Granted, she wasn't as pretty as the model, but the Chinese seemed like a far away figure from her now…and Kanda felt even further.

Soon, the Chinese model had reached half way through the pathway, directly in front of where Lavi and Reiichi were sitting. Lenalee smiled for Lavi's camera, and then directed her gaze towards the other end of the walkway. The spotlight on her dimmed while it brightened at the other end. A shiny brown leather shoe peeked out from behind the curtains, stepping onto the runway.

Silence was hushed once again as the undoubtedly most anticipated model of the showcase posed, chin up proud, a small smirk on the edge of his lips. Decked in a tailor made pristine white beige suit and black tie, Kanda was a picture of contradiction – hot and cool, passive and aggressive, handsome yet delicately beautiful. The pale shade of his clothes stood out from the millions of black suits in the audience. His fringe was gelled back, revealing his forehead and the rest of the hair was bound loosely at the nape of his neck in a white ribbon. He adorned black sunglasses on his pretty face, eyes hidden from the world yet the little smile on his lips was enough to get people swooning.

Hands in his pockets, he strode with manly assurance towards Lenalee in his usual _Kanda _way of modeling – with purpose, power and poise in every step. The whisperings had risen again, and now badly muffled appreciative giggling mingled in the noise. Once Kanda was in the middle with Lenalee, they posed back to back, heads tilted back in a picture perfect moment.

Reiichi's own heartbeat was thundering in her own ears as she watched the models in their element. It was difficult to make out what exactly the others were saying, and it was also difficult to breathe normally at the moment. The first time she had watched Kanda on the runway, it was incredible, she would admit. It was obviously top notch work, after she had compared it to the many others on the runway. This time was no different. There was just a special _aura_ that it was just so…_Kanda Yuu_.

Kanda unnoticeably looked in her direction for a moment, but she caught it because she was just watching him so intensely that upon her discovery, it was getting just a little bit scary to know. She couldn't tell if he intended to look this way, or if he was looking at Lavi, and she just felt quite stupid hoping that maybe,_ maybe_ he really was looking at her then. Soon enough, both models continued their path in opposite directions, and other models of the designer had already begun modeling on the runway.

The show went on.

* * *

Reiichi knew the showcase was quickly coming to an end when she saw Kanda for the fifth time, this time, solo on the walkway to close the session. It wasn't that she was counting, but she remembered all the outfits he wore because every look was unique and opened her eyes to various ways she herself could create such pieces. She particularly liked the dark green satin neck cuff he wore in one of the outfits. It drew attention towards his perfectly sculptured collarbone, overriding the overly simplistic light blue dress shirt and navy outer coat, plus the demin shorts he had on.

It made her realize that the reason why he was so popular and demanded –his looks—was actually something she shouldn't have brushed aside like she did in the beginning. It sounded incredibly dumb, but it dawned upon her that everything that his work entitled, from the image that he portrayed in pictures or any certain vibe he needed to pull off, he needed his kind of face and body to pull it off. She just could not imagine any of the other models she had worked with before doing what Kanda was doing at the moment with the same..._standard_.

Since when had she become so biased in her point of view regarding him?

If only the past her could meet the her now, she would surely be branded as a first class hypocrite.

Kanda had on a classic inky black suit, his hair flowing freely behind him as he walked. The inner pleated white shirt was buttoned up neatly to the neck where a bowtie was attached. The slim black pants were tapered to the ankles, finished with light brown loafers.

"He looks kind of cute with the bowtie, don't cha think?" Lavi commented more to himself because he didn't really expect a reply as he concentrated on waiting for the right moment to capture a "cute" picture moment.

Finally the Japanese model reached to area in front of their seats for a customary pose. He leaned his weight on his right leg, hand in one pocket as he gazed out into the dozens of flashing lights. Kanda flickered his gaze to his best friend who was making some weird impatient moments with his hands, one finger poised over the capture button of his camera. Kanda inwardly shrugged as he really didn't get what his photographer was trying to convey—as usual—so he turned to the other familiar person beside him. Her face was in his direction, but averting her eyes from him, he noticed.

It was really starting to bother him because he really did not know what the heck was going on with her. Why the sudden change in demeanor in regards to him? Was she harboring some grudge because he didn't apologise? She just felt really distant, for some reason, and it was getting very irritating.

His tips twitched a little in annoyance, but he kept his cool and turned to continue his stride down the walkway.

Lavi sat back, satisfied as he scrolled back to the picture he took with deft fingers just not a moment ago. He was waiting for the perfect expression to adorn the model's face, and he clicked just before Kanda turned to go. The picture was nearly adorable, because it was Kanda and a bowtie plus a very unnoticeable pouty look.

But looking at the picture closer, Kanda looked a little…_depressed_.

…

Nah, that must be the bad lighting.

* * *

After the show, Lavi brought Reiichi backstage, saying that they were waiting up for Kanda and Lenalee to have a celebratory late dinner, just for fun. Dinner sounded fine, and Lenalee's company sounded pretty fine too, but the thought of having dinner with Kanda was giving her a churning queasy feeling in her stomach. _You eat dinner with him like every day, _she reminded herself, mentally chiding the ridiculousness of the situation. She sighed inaudibly as Lavi pulled her through rows and rows of clothing and busy people who ignored them until they came upon an empty hallway with lockers. Lavi glanced around; trying to recall which direction was the model changing rooms.

"Rei-chan, wait here," he told her after a few seconds of quiet contemplation. "I'll go find Lena-chan and Yuu,"

"Mm okay," she nodded disinterestedly, busy trying to sort out her mind.

Once Lavi's steps were no longer heard, a black figure stepped out of the shadows, a predatory smirk gleaming in the light. Reiichi didn't notice for she was staring at the ceiling now, counting the number of cracks on the old concrete, and she nearly shrieked when she found herself face to face with someone clearly Portuguese.

Reiichi breathed heavily, then narrowed her eyes. "Are you stalking me?" she demanded.

Tyki looked affronted for a second, walking closer to her. "No," he denied. "I was merely waiting for an opportunity to talk to you privately, which is especially difficult given that guard of yours,"

"Stalker," she muttered under her breath nonetheless. "So, what is it?"

Tyki sniffed at the name calling, but placed a direct gaze upon her as he moved.

"Are you in love with Kanda Yuu?" he suddenly asked bluntly.

The question caught her off guard. "W-what—?"

What was it with people always assuming that she was with Kanda? At least Tyki went along the lines of 'love' and not 'attached together'. It was slightly different. That aside, it wasn't helping her own situation any. A faint hot sensation started to trail upwards to her neck, but she kept it cool. _Of course I am not in love with him_, she mentally chanted, _for if that really happened, Lavi would say 'in your face' to me and I'd never live it down._

"Are you, or are you not?" he hummed, hands in his pockets.

"I am not," she answered immediately.

Tyki surveyed her, thinking. There was no hesitation in her voice like she was really sure, but he when he was watching her during the showcase, the way she looked at the Japanese was obviously different. Maybe Road had been ranting too much to him about the romance novels she loved to add in her own twisted sense of love. He could admit he was a sadist at heart, but he preferred_ live _partners, thank you very much. His niece was just odd.

"Then you won't mind going out with me," he smiled. "Officially,"

The pause that came after that was so still that the air wasn't even moving. How the heck did Tyki come to such a nonsensical conclusion? "I don't see how that works,"

"Think about it," The model sighed as though obvious. "You'll be entitled to the best of both worlds. Your darling cousin will obviously never let you go, yet we Noah are willing to give you whatever you want, since you're part of the family. The Earl really likes you, you know," he added.

So this was about the _thing_ between the companies…she should have known.

"Plus, the media would be in _such _a frenzy," Tyki smirked, lips curling to something nearly predatory and hungry. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

_Fun?_

It was a game, Reiichi realized. Everything was a game to him. Right from the start when she was introduced to him, he was playing the nice gentleman, but he pushed his boundaries as far as he could, slipping his fingers into her dress, then kissing her—it was all to see what were her limits.

"But I don't even like you," she insisted. "And you don't like me either,"

"That's where you're wrong,_ Reiichi_," he sauntered closer. "True, you may not be as visually appealing as I like, but—" he paused in his steps, now right in front of her.

His cologne was particularly distinct at this point, a certain smell that reminded her of rich people wearing gold chains and drinking hard liquor—it just wasn't the same…

_The same as who…?_

"I particularly find your defiance interesting,"

Tyki leaned closer, and she took a step back reflexively, but he held her shoulders to keep her in place. His lips brushed past her ear, sending a shiver down her spine. "How long, I wonder, would it take for you to fall in love with me?" he murmured in his deep baritone.

He placed a slight kiss against the joint of her jaw just below her ear, causing a complete shutdown in her brain system as she stiffened even further, barely breathing.

"It's a simple choice really," he whispered. "Why not have fun with me, instead of risk being eliminated when the Earl loses his patience?" He leaned back, face back to its charming grin, but his tone slipped into something more ominous. "Did you ever wonder where the girl who did you a disfavor in our restroom has gone?"

Reiichi took a wavering step backwards, eyes widening as she instinctively knew there was an implication behind his words, but her thought process was halted at the moment. The gears in her head refused to move, and her fingertips were getting cold.

_The girl…restroom…_

_Matsumoto…Junki…?_

One second there was Tyki smiling innocently at her waiting for her answer, the next moment

She was facing someone else's back, with Tyki frowning rather distastefully at the person in front of her. There was a strong grip that was tightening around her wrist, and it was at the point where it was starting to hurt.

Kanda stood glaring, looking extremely pissed off with one hand forcing her to stay behind him, while the other arm outstretched in a protective gesture in front of her.

"What the fuck are you doing?" the Japanese spat, eyes burning with the promise of death.

"I am not obliged to answering you, Kanda Yuu," Tyki turned away, hands back into his pockets casually.

"Don't fuck with me,"

"Well, _Reiichi_," The Portuguese began, walking away from them both. "Since_ he_ doesn't mean much to you, I'm sure you won't mind if we kicked him off the chessboard, would you? After all, it's just a game,"

He turned back towards them both, winking. "Nothing personal," he gave a backhand wave as he sauntered out of sight.

"What the fuck was that?" Kanda turned on her immediately once they were alone.

If she could think at the moment, she would have answered him, but by this point as she feeling rather drained. There was just too much to think about. About Matsumoto Junki…true, where was she? She assumed the blonde was still in the Black Academy, but then again, there was no way that girl would have missed something like a _Valentino_ showcase, especially if Kanda was walking for it, and she didn't see hide nor hair of her tonight.

_Since_ he_ doesn't mean much to you, I'm sure you won't mind if we kicked him off the chessboard, would you?_

Then who was this…_he_? Kick him off the chessboard?

_Are you in love with Kanda Yuu?_

…Kanda? So they were targeting Kanda? That meant he was…Kanda was…

No, no, no.

Wait.

Think.

Tyki couldn't be serious in the literal sense, right? It was probably just a challenge to his model status.

Calm down, breathe.

"Rei?" Kanda was scanning her, frowning, but his voice dipped to something softer.

What could Kanda do if she told him what he said? Fly off his top? Beat up Tyki? The press would have a field day, sure. But ultimately that would change nothing. The Noah would still try to get her to their side, for reasons she still could not comprehend. In fact, it might make the situation even worse, because the Noah would now have a legitimate excuse to attack.

"It's nothing," she finally replied, trying to pry the hand that was still gripping her.

Kanda paused at her answer, his bad mood dipping even worse. First the presence of the fucking Noah was enough to egg his urge to kill something in sight, and now when he's just asking for a simple answer he gets some vague brush off even though he was being, well…_concerned…_

Right. Just fucking alright.

"…Nothing?" He glared at her with such intensity that she flinched. "You expect me to believe _nothing_ happened?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes," she insisted, a defensive complex to his harsh accusation. "Just…leave it, okay?" she sighed tiredly, not wanting to deal with this at the moment. She needed to think, sort, and rationalize first. She couldn't do this now. "I don't want to talk about this with you,"

"Why?" Kanda demanded, eyes blazing with deep seated irritation and fury. "You have some secret affair with the dickhead that isn't worth telling_ me _about?"

"Oh come off it, Kanda—"

"So what's the fucking_ game _that you're playing with him?" he asked again, pulling her roughly closer to him as she attempted to move away.

"I'm not playing some stupid game with him!" Reiichi yanked her arm away, clenching her fist to her chest.

"Well," Kanda snorted in disgust. "Then why are you always meeting that fucking Noah?"

"_He_'s the one coming on to _me_," she hissed, eyes frustrated and blazing with exasperation.

"Did I not say to avoid him then?" he goaded her, a hollow smirk of triumph on his lips. "Why do you never goddamn listen—"

He was making it sound like all of it was her fault. She grinded her molars, a stuffy feeling clogging up the bridge of her nose as her eyes pricked at his accusation.

"—It wasn't enough the _first time_, was it?"

Reiichi had her fist clenched so hard and shaking that her nails threatened to cut into her own palm. How dare he…? How dare he insinuate that she actually _wanted _Tyki's advances? His cruel suggestion was tearing a sharp pain through her chest as a sour feeling settled in her stomach. It wasn't like she was the one who actively sought out Tyki, nor did she want a _second time_.

"Did you enjoy it?" he sneered. "I saw him touch you and you just fucking let him?"

She couldn't say anything. She just couldn't. She wanted him to stop. The retorts were just stuck in her throat. No, she never _enjoyed_ any physical touches from Tyki. How could she, when she felt so _cold _whenever he touched her. It was never like…like…

Like what?

Like _who_?

Her vision was starting to blur as tears of frustration started to collect. What could she say when she didn't get it herself? Kanda continued to train his accusatory glare at her while he waited for a protest or the sort, but nothing came. Her head was lowered, eyes shadowed by her bangs.

"Since you value that asshole so much…" he finally spoke, voice low. "Why don't you let him fuck you while at it?"

Kanda walked roughly past leaving her behind, bumping shoulders but not caring if she stumbled at the impact. He was livid, aggravated, but most of all, disappointed. What had he been expecting, really? Maybe a word of gratitude, or an apology…not some submissive acceptance to his purposeful provocation.

He shouldn't have acted on his emotions when he saw the Noah with her he knew, but the flash of infuriation and displeasure was just too great. There was something clearly wrong when Reiichi wasn't moving when Mikk was invading her personal space, and for a moment he had jumped to the conclusion that Tyki had maybe_ broken _her in some way. Rage coursed through his veins in that particular moment and the next thing he knew was that he was in a glaring contest with the said asshole, but he noticed that the wrist he was grasping was trembling, and rather badly at that.

Something that the fucking bastard said was definitely important.

Reiichi was scared of something.

But if she didn't want him to tell him something so simple, then it was really her own fucking fault. Couldn't she _trust _him, for once?

He trusted her—after all would he have let meet Tiedoll in the first place? Very few people were privy to his past, and all of them were after he had known them for several _years_. Maybe it was just all one sided. What was it about him that Reiichi couldn't just depend on? Had he not already proven his own worth through various incidents?

Why couldn't she just tell him when he was just asking so simply?

He also hadn't forgotten about the fact that she had been ignoring him for nearly two days now. She couldn't still be hung up over his comment, could she? Was it like a payback? Since he didn't offer any information about his involvement with Lulubell, she didn't want to do likewise with Tyki. But that was stupid.

Of all people, Reiichi should know…she should know how this Noah…_thing_ affected him.

She should have known.

Clenching a fist, he randomly punched a dent in one of the lockers, the clang of metal vibrating angrily through the hallway.

* * *

Reiichi watched Kanda stomp angrily away sickly. Tiredly, she slipped off her heels and slid slowly to the ground, leaning her back against the lockers, not caring if she dirtied her dress. She couldn't stand any longer, for she was completely exhausted. Her head felt like it was stuck up in the clouds—woozy and floating with no purpose. She felt worse than that day she watched him drive off, a heavy load in her gut tearing at her. The urge to call him back was strong, and the urge to run after him was even stronger, but she didn't. She trained her gaze blankly into the opposite wall.

She didn't even know she was crying until a cool gust of wind blew through the hallway and her tear stained cheeks felt cold. Wiping her eyes furiously she bit back a sob and nearly choked. Alone, the silence was just ringing in her ears, taunting her. Fumbling with her purse, she managed to find tissues to clear her nose. Only when she half heartedly wiped her tears away did she remember she was wearing make up, most of which had probably smudged. She took out her small mirror to examine.

Sure enough, the face that stared back was in a mess. Her eyes were not yet red but they looked slightly puffy. The eyeliner she wore smudged at the edges of her eyes and some dribbled to her cheeks when they got caught in her line of tears. She cleaned her face, feeling better as it became devoid of makeup. Rubbing her bare arms, she wallowed in misery and ever tightening of her windpipe. Just his very words were enough to strike a sore chord in her.

Why was she so affected by him to the point that she cried?

_Since_ he_ doesn't mean much to you—_

It was the second question she hadn't found the answer to, but now it was so clear. The reason was pretty simple. Everything he did just mattered. He was just so important that he meant a lot. It was beyond the point of just an acquaintance, a friend, a confidant…

It was scary. So scary.

Just so incredibly scary because it just felt she wasn't the same anymore. She didn't have the same control over her emotions as she usually did. They were now on a roller coaster downhill with unexpected twists and turns that she could not prepare herself for. It was getting out of hand, but the worse thing was that she didn't know what to do about it.

Because everything he said just seemed to hurt so much, it hurt so much to the point that she wished she never met him in the first place.

It hurt because she…

She…

It was starting to add up. All of it would make sense. The nervousness she felt around Kanda especially whenever they were alone, the constant worrying over how he'd react if she said something and hence why she hadn't spoken to him for the past two days, the tingly jolts she was getting the times when he was too close for personal comfort, how happy she had been when she realized he really cared, why she had been thinking about him so much recently, and perhaps the most obvious one of all was the latest development of her feeling like her heart was being ripped into two when he was accusing her of liking Tyki when it had been_ him_ all along—

She _liked _him.

_Are you in love with Kanda Yuu?_

She wanted to laugh bitterly. If only Tyki hadn't asked her the question, maybe things wouldn't have turned out this way. Maybe she would have never realized just how significant he was to her now. Liking someone was supposed to be a joyful thing, wasn't it?

So why did she just want to cry, and cry some more?

* * *

**Owari.**

As for the outfits described in the _Valentino_'s showcase, they are actually real pieces by the designer. They can be found on Valentino's website itself. It was pretty interesting browsing through the collections there…

The fight rationale:

Both of them are thinking in different wavelengths and thus not understanding each other at all.

For Kanda, he just wants to know what Tyki said to her by purposely aggravating her while Reiichi is more hung up on the actual words that he's saying. Actually now it sounds like a stupid fight D:

FINALLY. THIS CHAPTER IS OVER.

I had a lot a lot a lot of trouble writing this because this chapter is really important. It's a turning point, basically, and if it doesn't sound plausible for Reiichi to like Kanda, then the whole fic falls apart. It's a little different from what I hoped to write, but I find that I can't change it anymore so…here it is.

Who ever said liking someone was happy thing? Honestly it had brought me more troubles than it was worth it.

Now the other tricky part is Kanda…


	26. Chapter 25

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

"Yuu!" Lavi brightened up as he found the person he was searching for just at the bottom of the particular flight of steps he was on.

Kanda ignored him, descending the next round of steps.

"Yuu!" he called again, but his friend wasn't stopping in his tracks, so he frowned and ran after him. "Hey Yuu—"

The redhead practically launched himself on Kanda's back and they both nearly fell forward, but luckily Kanda was gripping the railings of the staircase tight enough. Lavi heard the model exhale rather irritatedly, and he could practically feel him bristling.

"What?" Kanda didn't even bother to turn around, voice flat.

"We're going to eat together, remember?" Lavi spoke quietly, feeling that something was off. "Where are you headed to?"

"No where," The Japanese stated, starting to descend the stairs again.

"Yuu…" the other watched, confused, and slowly followed him down the steps while he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Soon enough with Kanda's fast pace they reached the first level, and the cool night air greeted their skins as they exited through the back gate and into the private car park.

"Hey, hey, Yuu—" Lavi tried to call as Kanda unlocked his car, striding towards his vehicle.

"Go away, Lavi," the other said without much feeling, hand on the car door.

Lavi immediately leaned his weight against the car door, refusing to budge to allow Kanda access to the driver's seat. "No, I won't," he stared back defiantly. "You're acting really strange, you know,"

"Whatever," Kanda strode away, leaving Lavi staring, mouth gape.

There was something really really really _really _wrong now. Firstly, Kanda didn't even bother to push him off when he glomped the guy on the stairs. Secondly, there was no outburst of profanity or the like. Thirdly, Kanda actually said his _name. _Fourthly, the man didn't even bother to push him away from the car door.

His eyes narrowed, and he ran after his friend again, this time forcefully grabbing his shoulders and turning him around. Kanda didn't even put up protest and merely stared back at the one green eye rather blankly.

"What happened?" Lavi demanded, lips drawn to a taunt line. "Why are you like this?"

Kanda closed his eyes in exasperation, sighing. "Look, can you leave me alone?"

"Not when you're like this,"

"If you didn't notice, you've left _her _own her own,"

"Who's her?" Lavi frowned, wiggling his nose at the sudden change in topic. "Lena-chan or Rei-chan?"

The photographer did not miss the stiffening at the mention of Reiichi's name. So something happened between them both again. And again, it was without him. Dammit, why do they always end up fighting or something similar when they were alone?

"What is it this time?" he prodded. "You insulted her or she insulted you?"

Kanda kept stubbornly quiet.

"Well okay, since you don't want to talk, I'll guess," Lavi frowned. "Mikk tried to do something funny, you got jealous and did something drastic, Rei-chan got angry at you for butting into her business—why are you giving me that look?"

"Dumbass," Kanda was finally glaring at him. Now that was an expression that was familiar. "Where the fuck did you get that?"

"From my awesomely awesome brain?"

"Tch," Kanda nearly spat at his shoes, shoving him away. "You know nothing,"

"Well, then _tell _me something," Lavi made a grab for him again. "You _know _I'm going to bother you until you open your golden mouth,"

The cool night breeze blew past, and Kanda was suddenly very aware of how empty the entire area was in so much contrast to the entrance of the building where fans and photographers awaited. The air was fresh and it helped him to think. He exhaled, knowing that Lavi was right. He knew his friend as much as his friend knew him.

"The fucking Noah tried to do something funny," he began, noting with half amusement and half annoyance that Lavi's eye was widening in recognition from his own very words. "No, I fucking did _not_ get jealous, and no, I did _not_ do something fucking drastic—"

"What did the bastard do to Rei-chan?" Lavi asked urgently, now very tempted to ditch Kanda and run back to his cousin.

"He told her something which frightened her or something," Kanda replied. "I don't fucking know,"

"Tyki….Mikk…" Lavi was hissing under his breath, glaring at his shoes for all he was worth, imagining it to be the Noah. But he was sure that wasn't all that happened. If something really unforgiveable happened to Reiichi, Kanda wouldn't have walked away no matter the situation. If Kanda was here then that meant Reiichi was on her own, but that meant she was safe at the least. "So…?" he prompted.

"So," Kanda grumbled, grinding his jaw. "She didn't want to tell me what he said,"

Lavi blinked. "Uh okay, and then?"

The model glared at him.

"You're… you're telling me you're being depressing with a huge black cloud over you because Rei-chan didn't want to tell you what Mikk said?"

Well, damn, it sounded kind of pathetic.

"Fuck—" he swore, annoyed at the look of disbelief written on Lavi's face, which then morphed into a small smirk.

"Yuu, oh Yuu," Lavi patted Kanda's shoulder like he was being oblivious to something. "You see, when Rei-chan doesn't want to talk, she won't. You have to give her some time to process things, you know? Then if you ask, she'll tell you willingly,"

"I fucking know that, alright?" The model sighed, aggravated. "But this time it's _different_," he continued, hand combing his own hair out of frustration. "She particularly didn't want to tell it to _me_, she said so herself—"

"Yuu," Lavi cut him off quietly. "Did you ever think that maybe...it's not because of Mikk but because of you?"

"What the fuck?" Kanda glared. "You're telling me it's _my_ fucking fault now—"

"No," his friend protested, breathing heavily once. "Maybe that's not the correct way to phrase it," the redhead thought for a moment, "How about this: did you ever think that maybe she's scared of the implications of telling you?"

"What implications?" Kanda's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I dunno," Lavi answered honestly. "It's not like I know what Mikk said…anyway that's just a theory. For all you know, Rei-chan was thinking of something else,"

"Che,"

Silence fell upon them both, then as if on cue, Lavi's phone buzzed in his pocket. He had a message from Lenalee.

_Reiichi and I decided to have some girl time over dinner . __ We'll have dinner with our favourite Japanese another day._

Huh. Something was going on, but it was okay since Rei-chan was in safe hands. Now he had his own problem aka brooding male model in front of him. They were both still standing like a bunch of idiots near Kanda's car having some heart to heart _man_ talk (sort of).

"Hey, Yuu…" Lavi started again with a serious tone. "Did you notice Rei-chan has been acting weirdly lately?"

"…"

"Like…she's more distracted than usual," he continued. "And she's getting more defensive when I'm just playing around with her…"

"…"

"And she's isn't talking much to you either—"

"We don't talk in the first place," Kanda snapped.

Ahh, sore topic. Lavi maintained a cool of nonchalance. "What I mean is that she's kind of ignoring you or something,"

He felt Kanda stiffen further. Ahh, a really sore topic.

"So why is that?" he gazed into his friend's eyes meaningfully.

Hell be dammed, how would he fucking know? The same question was really bugging him—and I mean, really _really_ bugging him because Reiichi seemed to be an expert in giving people the cold shoulder. It was like he didn't even exist in her world. He had watched how her eyes practically skipped over him whenever he was in the vicinity.

The Japanese model flickered his gaze downwards, keeping quiet.

* * *

Lenalee had found her sitting on the floor lifelessly. Not saying anything, the model merely knelt down and hugged her tightly as if she really knew and understood what she was feeling at the moment. It was there and then that another wave of tears came, and this time Reiichi didn't bother to wipe the tears but let them run painfully down her face.

"Reiichi…" Lenalee soothed, combing the designer's hair. "Let it out…let it all out…"

Reiichi squeezed the other tighter, tears dripping unto Lenalee's shoulder but she wasn't in the state to notice that now. It felt so painful. It just hurt. It _hurt_ so much. Lenalle continued to rub soothing circles unto her back until she calmed down, which was a good length of time later. Reiichi reluctantly pulled back from the embrace, embarrassed at the sudden display of emotions as she looked into her lap quietly. Lenalee grasped her hands reassuringly.

"I'm sorry about that," the redhead mumbled, still aghast at the fact that she cried in public and in front of someone younger than her no less.

"No, there's nothing to apologise for," the Chinese model smiled softly. "But what's wrong?"

Well, in truth, Reiichi would very much like to not talk about it, but she figured that Lenalee might be able to help her sort out her mess. After all, if she was forced to talk, it'd be easier to organize and understand all the information in her brain…but that did not mean she was ready to spill it all at the moment.

"Can we…talk about it later?"

"Gosh, I'm so sorry Reiichi," Lenalee's eyes suddenly widened. "I didn't mean you have you tell me if you don't want to," she babbled, rummaging through her purse for more tissues. "If you want, we'll talk later. We can go back to my place and have some comfort food, okay?"

"But you haven't eaten dinner—"

"I can cook you know," the Chinese chuckled kindly. "By the way, where is your cousin? I didn't expect to find you all alone,"

"Lavi went to find you actually…" _and Kanda_, but she didn't feel like voicing out his name at the moment.

"I guess he didn't know they moved the rooms around…" Lenalee mused. "And I thought Kanda-kun would have found you before I did—" she paused suddenly, looking at the other. "Are you okay?"

Reiichi forced a smile. "Yeah, why?"

The model studied her for a moment, and then asked softly. "Is Kanda-kun involved with this?"

Lenalee frowned at the gaze Reiichi averted away at the mention of the Japanese. The wordless answer was as good as any. She did think it was a bit odd for Reiichi to be suddenly crying here alone in the first place… and now she was wondering what the heck did the brash Japanese do, especially since he made her _cry_. Physcial abuse? No, Kanda wasn't the type to hit a girl, much less Reiichi. Probably he had said something insensitive, oh that ignorant prick. Kanda needed to learn more tact, she thought grimly, because she was so going to kick his ass for this.

* * *

"Reiichi, would you like chocolate, strawberry or vallina ice cream?" Lenalee asked as she rummaged through her freezer for the boxes of dessert. "Or would you like all three?"

"No, it's okay, Lenalee," the other girl smiled faintly, not feeling particularly hungry. Since when had she ever rejected ice cream? Never.

Both of them had made way to Lenalee's abode after the model informed Lavi of their plans after Reiichi voiced that she didn't want Lavi to worry at the moment—but both of them knew Lavi probably was suspecting something which would be made clear if he found Kanda anyway. They had changed out of their formal attire from the showcase, and Reiichi borrowed a shirt and a pair of waistband pants from Lenalee.

"Nonsense, I'll feel weird if I'm the only one eating," the other girl replied, now taking out a wrapped packet of ice cream from one of the boxes. "Since you're not hungry for dinner, you've got to at least eat something,"

Reiichi took it reluctantly, tearing off the wrap. The ice cream was split into three: pink, brown and white for the different colours. It immediately reminded her of the strawberry and chocolate parfait she ordered in the Japanese restaurant on that dinner with _Kanda _and he said something about it that made her lose her appetite—

Ugh, him again. She resisted the urge to slam her head on the table. Maybe that way she would stop thinking.

She stared at the dessert once more, extremely hesitant to eat it. But Lenalee joined her at the table carrying a bowl of baked rice fresh from the oven, so she put it in her mouth, not tasting the sweetness as her own bitterness nullified it.

"So Reiichi, you want to talk about it?" There was just something about Lenalee's voice that made it easy for her to talk, and it did help that the model was a girl too.

"It's complicated," she automatically responded.

"We have time," there again was Lenalee's sweet voice that spoke of patience.

"Well…it's just that Tyki asked me out again," she started uneasily.

Lenalee nearly dropped her spoon. "Again? Reiichi…you haven't been telling Lavi much, have you?"

That struck guilt inside her. "Well, Lavi tends to overreact on these kind of things," the designer explained. "But he wasn't really serious about it so it was okay," she quickly added. "Just now though…it was the first time that he was actually serious about it,"

"Did he do something to you?" Lenalee immediately asked. "Did he threaten you? Or…"

"Threaten? Not physically, at least," she continued. "But he was saying pretty…serious stuff. He said why not just go along with him, or risk being _eliminated _when the Earl loses patience," she watched a frown decorate the Chinese's delicate features. "And that's not all. He asked me if I knew where Matsumoto was...and I didn't see her tonight. Don't you find it strange that she isn't here?" she paused. "I mean…because…Ka.." Damn, it was difficult to say his name, but she forced it out anyway, "Kanda was modeling,"

"That's… that's true…" Lenalee nodded, urging her to continue.

"Then Tyki said they were going to kick him off the chessboard—"

"Him? Chessboard?"

"Kanda," Reiichi grimaced at yet how she was really trying to avoid his name but it was inevitable. "I think it's a figure of speech, but it sounds really…I don't know," she sucked in her breath. "Dangerous, kind of…I'm afraid of what he actually means," she admitted.

"Yeah…" The other girl agreed a moment later. "Don't worry about it too much yet...Kanda-kun will be careful. He always is," there was a pause that Reiichi knew Lenalee held back some words, "And well, you have to be careful too,"

The designer gave her a small smile, rolling the melting ice cream in her mouth as she finished off the stick. Silence lapsed.

"So…why were you crying? " Lenalee asked, continuing to eat, looking slightly amused at the look the other was giving her. "Reiichi, I don't believe you'd cry over something Tyki Mikk said and I know it's about Kanda-kun,"

Reiichi flinched a little at his name.

"I…just...," she began slowly. "I…well, he came when Tyki was talking to me and Tyki left…then he wanted to know what Tyki said to me, but I didn't want to tell him because…well, he looked so angry at the fact Tyki was talking to me in the first place and I didn't really want to give him another reason to get even more mad—"

"You have to understand, Reiichi," Lenalee said softly, "That Kanda-kun is very sensitive. What were your exact words to him?"

Reiichi thought for a moment. "_I don't want to talk about this with you now_," she reiterated. "But that didn't mean I won't tell him, just not at that point in time because I was still trying to process the information," she explained quickly.

"Ah," the other girl nodded. "You said "with you", which would lead Kanda-kun to assume that you don't want to talk to him in particular,"

Reiichi just gave her an incredulous look. "Are you sure? Who would read so much into it?"

"That's Kanda-kun for you,"

Lenalee motioned her to continue as Reiichi shut her eyes exasperatedly.

"He's such an idiot. God. _He_—he accused me of…of…"

"Mingling with the enemy?" the model supplied helpfully.

"Something like that, but it's not like that! I just.." Reiichi sighed heavily. "I…I don't know how to say it,"

"Hmmm…" The Chinese thought for a moment. "What did Kanda-kun say to you?"

"He said…" her chest started to clench painfully again, as if reminded of the very words he unleashed upon her. "He said that I _liked _Tyki touching me but I don't! I don't…" she tightened her fists into balls. "And it just hurt a lot…"

_Since you value that asshole so much…why don't you let him fuck you while at it?_

Now that…_that_, was dirty. As if she was that shallow to even think of doing something like_ sex_ with Tyki! The worst part was that he talked as though she was some _whore_—like she said, that was just plain dirty.

Lenalee kept quiet even as Reiichi trailed off, now fiddling with the wooden stick in her hands.

"I'm guessing Kanda-kun reacted that way because he felt that you had something against him in particular…what he said was certainly out of line, but you know how he is…" Lenalee sighed. "He didn't mean any of it, that I can assure you,"

Reiichi sighed, wishing that she could strangle Kanda, feeling even worse now that she knew it was a little of her fault for starting another argument. Maybe if she hadn't said anything Kanda wouldn't have said such harsh words to her, but there was another tugging feeling that reminded her of how much those words _hurt _and he shouldn't have said them at all, no matter the situation.

"It's just a misunderstanding," the Chinese soothed. "It's going to work out fine,"

Lenalee continued to finish the rest of her dinner as Reiichi nodded absently and wallowed in her own thoughts, tracing random circles on the table with her wooden stick. Certainly, Reiichi feeling hurt about what happened was not misplaced, but the model was just curious as to why the other wasn't cursing Kanda or well, being furious or ranting off in general. If it was her, she would have kicked Kanda and told him rather forcefully how wrong he was.

It was odd. As far as she knew, Lavi had told her Reiichi's wrath was something to behold and avoided, but today the fire in redhead in front of her seemed to have sizzled out, like she was hung up on something else that was bothering her. She surveyed the designer who was feeling rather pained and upset and well…there was this tinge of _regret_…like she was missing something…

...or someone.

"Reiichi, do you like Kanda-kun?" she asked bluntly, observing how the redhead suddenly dropped the stick unto the table and jerked like she was guilty of something.

A flash of pink started to show on the designer's cheeks as her pupils widened in horror, and she started to bite on her lips. "But I didn't—" she stuttered, eyes darting back and forth as her face got redder. "I—didn't say anything!" she stared at Lenalee, and then dropped her gaze down again rather dejectedly."Was it that obvious?"

"You just told me," Lenalee grinned rather happily, finishing the last of her food with satisfaction.

Reiichi cursed herself for the slip up, wishing very much that the ground would just eat her now. Lenalee knew, oh god, _Lenalee knew_, and suddenly there was another problem on her mind because Lenalee knew that she of all people shouldn't have fallen for Kanda and Lavi was so going to find out about this and—

"This is great Reiichi!" The Chinese beamed, excited. Lenalee seemed to like the fact that she was beyond embarrassed at this point, and even went over to hug her happily. "I can't believe it! Lavi would be absolutely _ecstatic—"_

"No!" she shouted with much conviction. "Don't tell Lavi, _please_. He'll…he'll…" she covered her face with her hands, burning with humiliation at the thought of Lavi teasing her more than ever, "I'll never live it down. Please, don't,"

"If you insist…" the model looked disappointed, but then brightened up again. "So, what are you planning to do about it?"

"Planning?" Reiichi furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm not doing to do anything,"

"What?" Lenalee exclaimed, disbelieving. "You should tell Kanda-kun and—"

"No!" she protested, mortified. Heck, she just realized that she liked him about maybe two hours ago, there was no way in hell that she was confessing or something. For all she knew, it would jolly well be some stupid infatuation that would go away with time. Wait a minute. Wasn't she being emotional because of him like a moment ago and why was she acting like some _schoolgirl_ having a crush now?

"I mean, what if all of this is a mistake? How do you know if you actually like someone?" she asked, eyes trained on the table. "I mean I think I like Kanda—" heart skip, "—but what if because I _think _I like Kanda and therefore_ do _like him? Like, it's a trick of the mind—"

"Reiichi—"

"Or what if all of it was by the power of suggestion? I mean Lavi's always been trying to get me to like Kanda and somehow he brainwashed me to like him and I don't know—god, is that even possible—"

"Rei—"

"Or worse, what if the theory about love is true, and we just love the idea of being in love, and I actually don't like Kanda but maybe I'm desperate for a relationship because I haven't been in one and—"

"REIICHI!" Lenalee shook the other girl who was clearly ranting off at her own pace. "Reiichi," she repeated softer this time, taking in the panic that clearly shone in the other's eyes. "It's normal to be insecure at first…but if you truly do like someone, the feeling will just get stronger...and you will know," she said simply.

"But—but—" The designer failed about for a moment, then murmured, "But why him? Of all people…why _Kanda_?"

This was a matter of her _pride_, in a sense. She was never supposed to like Kanda in any way, mainly because he definitely wasn't someone she thought she could fall in love with from the start, and there was the pesky match making attempts by her so very desperate cousin that she fended off time and again that made it humiliating to actually realize she was in something she was so sure she'd never fall into.

Lenalee shrugged. "But I still think you should tell Kanda-kun," she said at last. "He really likes you too and you two will make such an adorable couple—"

"Woah, hold on that thought Lenalee," she cut in, trying to ignore that little flutter in her chest. "He doesn't like me that way," the Chinese looked like she wanted to protest but she plowed on, "And we just fought, remember? He's kind of angry at me at the moment and I can't forgive what he said to me…"

"Just tell him what you told me and it'd be fine," Lenalee assured. "He will try to avoid apologizing to you though, so you'll have to wheedle that out of him,"

"Then that's not much of an apology, is it?"

"You can try making him feel really guilty," the model grinned. "Ooh, if he actually does say something out of his own initiative," she was nearly squealing with excitement, "That shows how much he really likes you! I think you need to get that on tape and show me,"

"Because Kanda is so going to allow himself to be video-ed. Uh, _no_,"

"That's why, Reiichi, we need Lavi in on this! Come on, it'll be a once in a life time opportunity," Lenalee bargained, grinning madly. "It's as good as catching an eclipse on tape which means this does not happen in just any lifetime!"

First of all, Reiichi was over a hundred percent sure that Kanda would never say anything remotely close to a "sorry", and secondly, her cousin…oh, her cousin. "No, Lenalee, definitely not. You _know_ how Lavi is. No. No. No!"

The model pouted for a second. "What about Allen?"

"I'd prefer to leave him out of this for now," she answered blandly. "Just don't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"Not even my brother?"

"Especially not your brother. He's just as bad as Lavi, no offense," the designer just knew Komui would be just as thrilled Lenalee was right now because there was one less male that could be potentially linked to his darling sister.

"Then maybe—"

"_No,_ "

* * *

Reiichi reached home late after Komui had returned and Lenalee cajoled him to send her home—for that she was entirely grateful—and found Lavi alone in the living room watching the television with the sound off. Luckily by then she was feeling much better and Lavi didn't seem to know that she cried, thus he made a less of a fuss than she thought he would over her fight with Kanda.

She repeated the same thing she said to Lenalee about her meeting with Tyki, and watched quietly as Lavi's face neutralized into stone. "…I see," was all he said.

"So..do you think—"

"You're definitely_ not_ going to accept him," Lavi insisted immediately.

"I know," Reiichi rolled her eyes, "I meant, do you think we should do anything?"

Lavi thought for a moment. "We'll run some checks on where Matsumoto has gone, but as far as I know, her father is still in charge of the company so by right the Noah hasn't done anything to them…"

"Then about Kanda…"

"We don't know for sure what they're planning so there's nothing much we can do about that, but I'll tell him to take extra precaution…" he sighed, cursing the Noah for their predicament. "Anyway Rei-chan, why didn't you want to tell all of this to Yuu?"

"It's not that I didn't_ want_ to," she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Just not then and there. I wanted to think first. Lenalee told me Kanda misread my intentions,"

"Well," Lavi's shoulder's sagged with obvious relief. "Yuu was really _affected_ by what happened so I thought something really bad occurred—um, Rei-chan?" he peered at her.

Affected, huh. Reiichi pressed her lips into a taunt line, not saying anything for a few moments. "I'm just tired," she finally said, yawning on cue.

"Of course, we can continue this tomorrow morning," he ushered her to her room.

Lavi had taken the initiative to turn on the air condition already and thus her room was feeling nice and comfortable. Quickly, she changed and brushed her teeth while her cousin was snuggling up to her bolster. She joined him later, hugging him by the waist and pressing her face into his chest once the lights were off, breathing in deeply. He was warm, familiar, safe.

Lavi combed his fingers through her hair softly, but didn't voice out anything. If she wanted to talk, she would, but sometimes she was just as stubborn as Kanda. Both of them liked to keep things to themselves till the bursting point. He wasn't really sure what was going between them at the moment—it seemed like they were getting into more fights and misunderstandings lately...and it wasn't exactly fun to not be able to tease them when they were like this.

* * *

Reiichi thought about explaining it all to Kanda actually. About their stupid basis for a fight, and also to demand an apology, but after that whole night of tossing and turning (it was a wonder she didn't kick Lavi off) she realized that she just _couldn't_ talk to him anymore. If their problem was resolved then how was she supposed to act around him? There was no way she could continue to act the same way before—unless you counted being overly sensitive to each and every thing he did or just plain over thinking—no, she couldn't do this.

Kanda obviously was waiting for her to say something first, judging by the way he was sitting at the kitchen table in the morning longer than usual. She was actually hiding, I mean, waiting behind her door to hear his door click shut so that she knew she'd be alone once she stepped into the kitchen. It was only a good thirty minutes later that he did so, and by then she didn't have the appetite for breakfast anymore. They drove to the headquarters in silence, and it was literal silence because Kanda never played any sort of music in his car. Once he reached the carpark, she practically fled to her workroom and shut herself in.

She only had one day to make the outfit, and she was so running out of time. She took out some of her sketches she planned for _Wrath_—thank god she didn't have to start from scratch, and continued to detail one after an hour of contemplation. As she worked alone (she had no idea where Lavi was for he disappeared sometime during the wee hours of the day when she was still sleeping), she was banking on full productivity.

Unfortunately, if she thought realizing she liked Kanda was bad, then the aftermath of it was pure horror. It was like a rolling ball of snow down the mountain—once you start, it gets bigger and bigger till it was dreadfully overwhelming but she just couldn't_ stop_. Once there was this possibility of liking in romantic terms, not as a platonic friend, it wasn't any surprise that she started to think about him differently.

It was mostly flashbacks about what they had done together, and the worst one of all was the time at her orphanage and she took that cute picture of him with the children, and the thought of him being a rather cute _parent _just flashed through her mind. She nearly broke her pencil in half when she realized where her thoughts were going and mentally berated herself for that while she tried to squash down any flusteredness that came with it.

Speaking of which, she still had that picture in her phone. Maybe she should delete the picture.

Wasn't she supposed to be angry with him? Or at least sad or depressed or miserable or unhappy or just _not _thinking about him like…like…like this?

She resisted the urge to do a head slam against the cold hard wall.

* * *

Lavi whistled as he skipped in his office in the morning; smile as bright as the sun, very much in contrast to his Japanese model who was exuding an aura so dark, light couldn't have escaped from him.

"You're fucking_ late_, usagi," Kanda snapped, uncrossing his legs from a chair he was lounging on at the corner of the set room. "Couldn't decide which eyepatch to put on?" he sneered.

"By ten minutes and forty three seconds, you prick," he cheerily replied, ignoring the head toss and snort he was graced with. Kanda knew he_ never_ took off his eyepatch, that asshole. Someone was in a bad mood today. "And good morning to you too,"

"Ah, Bookman-san," A skinny male walked up to him, relief obviously rolling off in waves at his entrance. "Kanda-san is ready. If you would please?"

"Sure," Lavi cracked his neck muscles, taking up a camera handed to him by one of the photographing crew. "Yeah, baby, _yeah_," he smirked, very much like the Austin Powers persona Kanda remembered on screen.

"Fucking zip it or I'll maim you," the model threatened as he strode to the set.

Lavi pouted but got ready as he angled his camera. Today's shoot was for _Y3_, the brand of Japanese designer _Yoji Yamamoto_. He could tell their representative—the skinny dude now watching Kanda with a shell shocked expression—was clearly intimidated by Kanda and had doubts about him, but seeing his best friend give the camera a look that girls would have _died _just to get a glimpse of it, he knew the representative was sold.

The first outfit was just a black trench coat with a high collar and silver buttons at the side. The model tucked his hands into the huge pockets at the sides and gave his world famous smoldering stare. It was crazy, but Lavi swore the black demon aura his best friend was exuding just a few seconds ago was completely gone, only to be replaced by something much _hotter_—judging by the way the rest of the photography crew was picking at their collars, he knew that was the right word to describe it.

The shoot continued on for a few more hours, the entire range was all black, from vests to coats and finally their last shoot was just a plain graphic tee. Honest to god, the shirt just had a grey line at the left side of the front that was the design, and Kanda was posing with a soft fedora on his head, it still looked like something _ungodly_. No wonder both of them were being paid so highly for this shit.

After all, who else could make a plain black shirt look so good?

Only _Kanda Yuu_.

* * *

Once the shoot was over Kanda's bad mood seemed to have magically reappeared again. Lavi knew because he didn't even get the chance to tease the guy before he heard Kanda's door slam, shutting him out. Well, if his friend wanted private space he could give it, but that meant he himself was stuck with boredom for the next thirty minutes before lunch time came.

The next other option was to bother his cousin but he knew she was rushing her work, so he left her alone. Wasn't he such a_ considerate_ man? Sometimes he astounded himself even. So that left option three, which was to head up to Komui's office and bother the hell out of the rest of the design department. It turned out to be a good choice as he spent all the time he could waste until Reever finally kicked him out, hell bent on getting Komui started on his overdue paperwork.

"Yuu, lunch," he knocked on Kanda's door once he was down at the basement and headed to call his cousin.

"Hoi hoi, Rei-chan~" Lavi burst into the designer's workroom, staring curiously at the scattered balls of rough paper strewn on the floor. Reiichi rarely crushed paper nor threw them around. "Lunch time!"

Reiichi peered up from the fabric she was measuring on the table. Food? She was kind of hungry and if Lavi came to get her it meant that they were eating out at some ridiculously priced restaurant (but she had to admit the food was usually superb) but if she was lunching with her cousin then that definitely meant Kanda was going to eat too. Suddenly the idea of food just didn't seem very appealing.

"I'm not hungry," she replied, eyes turning back to her task at hand.

"You can eat their desert if you're not that hungry,"

"I think I'll pass," she responded.

The photographer paused, knowing that once she had set her mind on something, it was not going to change. "We'll buy something back for you,"

"Okay,"

Lavi reluctantly left the room feeling dejected for he had actually wanted to bring her to his awesome place to try out, but apparently it was not happening. Closing the door softly, he spotted his friend leaning against the wall outside. Kanda raised an eyebrow at his questioning look, not liking the grim shadow that suddenly passed across the photographer's eye. Suddenly, the red head pounced on him.

"Haven't you guys made up? " Lavi demanded once he came to a conclusion after his round of quick assessment. "It's kind of painful to watch you guys like this,"

"She's not hungry, she said so herself," Kanda retorted.

"What, I'm supposed to believe that your bad mood today is due to your ever present PMS," the redhead ducked the oncoming swipe to the head. "And Rei-chan_ never_ turns down desert. Give me more credit here, Yuu,"

"Che,"

"I don't get it. I don't get you or Rei-chan," Lavi tucked his arms behind his head and leaned next to Kanda, "She told me about it and it didn't seem like it was something you guys would have fought in the first place—"

"She told you?" The model immediately demanded. "What the fuck? Honestly what the fuck is her problem—" He gave some sort of a frustrated snort at Lavi's displeased nudge. "Look, She hasn't talked to _me_, okay? All this is her fault and if she doesn't want to explain it to me, I'm not going to wheedle it out from her,"

Kanda breathed heavily from his semi rant, face lightly flushed with irritation. His friend was staring at him mouth agape not expecting the sudden ferocity. "Just forget it,"

"Oh Yuu," The photographer finally said after a moment of silence. "Why are you so stubborn?"

"Me?" the other snorted. "Why don't you ask your _darling_ cousin that?"

Lavi sighed. Both of them were too similar for their own good. Personally this_ thing_ between them was dragging out far longer than he had thought. "Look, just take the first step and talk to her, alright?"

Kanda's lips twitched in annoyance, but he didn't reply. After neither of them said anything for a while, Lavi's stomach suddenly growled. The model rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the wall to make a move.

"She didn't eat breakfast," he muttered loud enough for Lavi to hear.

The redhead froze in his steps before he could follow the Kanda's retreating back that disappeared into the hallway. No breakfast and she wasn't hungry? He glanced at the door mournfully, wanting to drag her along, but he knew it wouldn't be welcomed. Reluctantly, he ran after Kanda for Kanda totally would drive off without him.

One more day was all he was giving them both before he stepped in and did things _his_ way. Just one more day.

* * *

Kanda Yuu taking the advice of his clearly mentally retarded not-best-friend? Did you expect him to invite himself into Reiichi's presence and ask _nicely _what was clearly wrong between them both?

Of course he didn't.

You see, what he had was manly pride. He wasn't about to take the first step because that obviously showed that he was the one who was affected enough to try and make things right. In the first place, it _wasn't _his fault and therefore he_ shouldn't_ be the one to do anything, but he was getting really irked with her now. He was getting even more aggravated because he was extremely bored at the moment for there was nothing to do, except his ears being talked off by the hyperactive redhead. He didn't know what the hell Lavi was yapping over because he'd long tuned him out and it was like background noise now. They were sitting in the kitchen, just wasting time. Kanda glared at his watch willing time to move faster. When could he _leave_?

"Lena-chan! Why are you here?" Lavi perked up when the elevator dinged and he saw the Chinese model enter into their view. "Wait, let me guess—you missed the awesomeness that is me,"

Lenalee was decked out in a cute frilly checkered dress that twirled about as she walked. Oh why couldn't his cousin dress like her?

"Uh, _no_," Lenalee rolled her eyes. "I'm having dinner with Reiichi,"

"You are?" Lavi did a double take and glanced at Kanda. Reiichi didn't tell him anything, since she was locked in her room for the entire day. "Then Yuu…" he trailed off, looking at the other questioningly and his gaze flickered back to Reiichi's door.

What the _fuck_?

Kanda was waiting, goddammit,_ waiting_ for her to finish so that they could go home. Did he ever wait for people? No, he didn't. What did you think, he was just lounging around in office because he had absolutely nothing to do? Reiichi could have at least, courtesy to _tell _him—oh wait, she didn't want to tell him anything.

"I'm going back," he snarled roughly, "Damn that bit—" he wanted to scream, but it ended off abruptly when Lavi shot him a chilling glare.

What the fuck, he couldn't even curse her. He glowered back. Sifting fingers through his silky soft hair in frustration, he stood up roughly, causing the chair to screech beneath him. He stormed towards the door with every intention to drive home and do a good workout to release all this godforsaken _stress_.

"Kanda-kun," Lenalee caught his arm before he could brush past her.

"What?" he snapped rather harshly.

She frowned at his tone for a second, then dragged him to the nearest room nearby which was Lavi's office and shut the door.

"What the fuck do you want?" he muttered, crossing his arms. "Well?"

She scrutinized him for a moment, defined feature pulled into a sulk and arms crossed, and then kicked him hard in the shin. Kanda clutched his leg, wincing loudly as he totally didn't expect the sudden attack.

"Ow fuck! What the fuck was that for?"

"For making Reiichi cry, you big jerk!" Lenalee hissed angrily, loud enough for Kanda to get it in his thick skull, but soft enough so that Lavi wouldn't hear. She grabbed his collar to yank him down to her level. "I don't know the exact words you said to her but you made her _cry_!"

"I didn't—" he immediately tried to deny, but— "Wait, she cried?"

Lenalee made a frustrated noise. "Yes, you asshole," she was giving him a dirty look now. "Look, Reiichi told me about it. About what Mikk said to her and—"

"What? She told you?" Kanda snarled, wanting to rip off the hand Lenalee was holding him with because it made him bent in an uncomfortable position. "She told _you_?" he repeated, disbelieving. "Fuck. Fuck it. I can't believe she told you and the rabbit and she can't tell _me_—Oww! Lenalee, what the fuck—"

The Chinese had kicked him again. "Will you let me finish?"

Kanda shut his mouth with a disgruntled expression and nodded reluctantly. The woman had on high heeled boots, for god's sake. He kept his word as Lenalee recounted what Reiichi said to him. After all, if the designer wasn't taking any action, Kanda still deserved to know since it involved him.

"—she was just worried about what Tyki Mikk would do," she concluded.

It didn't even take a split second for Kanda to react.

"That fucking _son of a bitch_," he growled, "I'm so fucking going murder him and that goddamn piece of shit family he has—"

"You're getting off point here Kanda-kun,"

"I'm getting out of point?" he echoed incredulously. "She didn't want to tell _me _something as important as this—"

"Kanda," Lenalee tapped her foot impatiently. "You are too sensitive. What makes you think she didn't want to tell you _in particular_?"

"…Sensitive?" he grimaced. He was _not _sensitive. "She said so herself!"

"Well, mister, lose that ego head and don't think so highly of yourself! If I'm not wrong, she said "I don't want to talk about this with you now", yes?

"Exactly my point—"

"Let me finish," she fixed a stern glare at him and he quietened down again. "The emphasis was "now". Reiichi needed to think first, you doof. But that's not the point either. You said something about her liking Tyki or whatever, and _that _really hurt her, Kanda-kun, and she _cried_ because of it,"

Kanda shut the mouth that was opening for a retort when he heard her words.

"Get it, Kanda-kun?" the Chinese enforced. "She cried because of what_ you_ said!"

But that was just to provoke her because he knew she didn't like being linked to Mikk since the other time he said something similar, and well, they were fine after that fight. But cry? Since when did she ever cry because of some stupid thing he said? Then again, wasn't she asking for it? Standing so close to that fucking asshole without even attempting to move away—

"But still, _she_—"

This time, Lenalee glared at him so hard that he actually flinched. "Do you want to be kicked again?" He shook his head quickly. "Kanda-kun, there are just some things you _don't_ say to a girl, no matter how angry or frustrated you are," she reprimanded him. _Especially when Reiichi likes you_, she wanted to add but she didn't say that. "It's_ your_ fault, get it?"

Kanda seemed to get the drift of what she was trying to say to him, judging by the way he stopped resisting her hold. His eyes averted to his shoes, a sure sign of accepted guilt and his face blanked.

So the reason she was ignoring him now was _his_ fault? Again?

"So just go and apologise to her," she released him, sighing.

Kanda rubbed his stiff neck from her assault. "She wouldn't even look at me now," he muttered. "She's been pretending I don't exist for days—"

"Have you tried to talk to her then?" Lenalee cut him off, hands on her hips.

She was saying the same thing as Lavi. What did she think? Obviously _not_.

"No?" she clasped his shoulder, giving him a well meaning stare. "Well, be a man and do the right thing,"

Lenalee exited the room with a soft click, leaving him to wallow in his own thoughts.

So basically he hurt her. Made her cry. Well, if Lavi knew he'd be a goner for sure, but then again, that wasn't the point. He never intended to_ hurt_ her in any way. Of course he didn't. He was just impatient and annoyed, and he didn't really mean what he said…

Damn, since when did he care so much? He had made plenty of girls cry before, not that he was proud of it, but sometimes they were just asking for it—trying to force him to date them or whatever.

But this was Reiichi. So what, actually? So what if it was Reiichi?

But because it was Reiichi, he was feeling guiltier than ever. He was familiar with the feeling—there would be this thing gnawing inside of him and he would feel like puking just a little bit. He would take deeper breaths like it just occurred to him the sheer seriousness of what he did, and the blood within in veins would course faster, his mind would blur with the number of way he could try to make it right. Most of the time, he ignored it, but this time, the guilt kept digging itself deeper when he tried.

So he was supposed to make the first step and apologise because it really wasn't her fault after all…what the fuck, honestly, he had never done such a thing in his life and didn't want to.

Kanda resisted the urge to throw one of Lavi's cameras against the wall.

* * *

**Owari.**

I was re-reading the previous chapter and I'm hating it more than ever UGH. Something just doesn't seem to fit. It is just me being perfectionist and paranoid? But I'm going to plow through the story anyway. Maybe if I'm done with the story I'll rewrite parts I didn't like… (hah, knowing myself, I'd be too lazy to do it)

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I did think of writing a Valentine's Special but unfortunately I had no plot churning, so I decided to type and update this chapter faster XD


	27. Chapter 26

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

Friday morning was by far the most awkward fitting session they had in their entire life. It was funny really, how both of them were not so subtly trying to avoid each other but failing because the fitting session obviously needed communication. For Reiichi's part, she was still trying to cool down and try to act like she didn't like him in any way, and Kanda was just struggling with being torn between apologizing or not.

Luckily for Reiichi, she had stayed up pretty late yesterday, returning to the office after dinner with Lenalee to complete the outfit. And now they were both in her workroom at an ungodly hour in the morning way before Lavi was here to do the fitting since they were so short of time and the photo session was in the afternoon. Outside, Allen was creating the set she requested. Hence she was feeling extremely sleepy and that helped to keep her attitude nonchalant.

They got through a series of work professional questions and answers—mostly grunts, nods or shakes on Kanda's part before there was nothing else to change on the outfit and the atmosphere stilled to something even more awkward than when they began.

Reiichi was feeling rather dissatisfied at her _Wrath _piece, for it was rushed and perhaps not thought out properly through. She tried to do something weird, as usual, but this time the combination looked a little odd and just a little off. Of course, Kanda still looked good in it—since when had he ever not look good in anything—and she was a little miffed knowing that if critics had anything nice to say about her design this time round, it was only that Kanda was the one modeling it.

She retracted the hand that was smoothing down the fabric at his back once she realized she was just touching him for the sake of it and nearly wanted to kill herself in embarrassment. To make matters worse, the jerk of her hand away was too sudden and Kanda turned his heated gaze upon her through his reflection in the mirror.

"Reiichi," a head poked through the door and both of them jumped. Allen looked at them both curiously, from Reiichi's slightly flushed face and Kanda's death glare on him. "I'm done with the set, would you like to see?"

"Sure," The smile Reiichi shot at the other was too relieved and Kanda felt a surge of indignation at the younger boy.

The boy with the scar let Reiichi walk past him at the door, giving Kanda an unreadable look. Kanda brushed it off and followed her footsteps out of the door and took in what Allen had set up for him. Reiichi was on the set itself, poking at certain things or just pretending to be absorbed into the props. The white hair boy pulled out something that was stuffed into his pocket, handing it to him.

Kanda cocked his eyebrow at the contraption in his hand. "…A gun? What for?"

It was fake of course, and that meant he couldn't load anything in it. Too bad. Still, it looked pretty authentic and intimidating in his hand.

"I don't know," Allen looked back at him. "Reiichi told me she wanted to you hold it,"

Well, she certainty didn't tell_ him_ anything about it. Maybe it was part of her interpretation or something. Like his weird clothes. Then again, he didn't know because _she didn't tell him anything_.

"She didn't tell you anything?" The younger boy murmured low enough to prevent Reiichi from hearing their conversation.

"No, she didn't , brat," he snapped back with more force than necessary, annoyed with the fact that more people were picking up on her obviously ignoring him status.

Allen didn't comment.

* * *

As usual, Kanda was forced into the makeup chair for Fou to do her work. It seemed like _everyone_ noticed Reiichi's change of behavior towards him, because Fou was glaring at him like he was some kind of dirt through the mirror after Reiichi gave her instructions and left the room.

"Oi," she prodded him on the head with the comb, and it hurt. "What did you do to the missy?"

For some inconceivable reason, Fou had to assume it was his fucking fault. When it wasn't. Not really. Fine, it was, but she didn't need to jump to conclusions.

"Nothing," he glared back with just as much intensity.

"Huh," Fou snorted, easily combing his hair into a high ponytail, "You keep telling yourself that, pretty boy,"

After that she kept quiet throughout his application of makeup. It was odd and admittedly aggravating him to no end. She was behaving exactly like the Moyashi, wherein they usually teased, taunted or insulted him, but this time they were clammed up and the lack of noise on their part was so weird, it was driving him crazy.

"Yuu-chan~" a very familiar annoying voice floated in and Kanda nearly sighed in relief. Nearly.

"Shut up, usagi," he snarled as usual.

Lavi came behind him, trailing his fingers in his glorious hair—to which he slapped away rather viciously earning a hard pinch for moving from Fou who was working on his face—and said rather admiringly, "You look like _Dante_, man! Except you know, without the white hair and ripped sexy body—oh wait, yours is kind of sexy too,"

"Eww the fuck—how the hell can a poet's body be_ ripped_?"

"Not Durante degli Alighieri," Lavi almost rolled his eyes—eye—whatever. It was quite adorable how Kanda remembered so much of their literature class even with his rocky relationship with their tutor. "Dante, from _Devil May Cry_?"

Kanda stared at him, bored. "Whatever,"

"Shit, Yuu," his photographer commented, amused. "You've seen me play the games at your house for like, months. I can't believe you forgot,"

Kanda felt a tiny bit affronted. "Like I said, _whatever,"_

Fou flicked a final brush over his lips, finally stepping back and nodding to him. Lavi immediately swopped down and hugged him from the back, ignoring the choked sound Kanda let out and the string of promised death threats that followed.

"Careful, Red," Fou warned, but was grinning too much at Kanda's discomfort, "Don't smudge the makeup,"

"Aww, Yuu," Lavi cooed, hugging him even tighter that nearly had the model coughing from the lack of air. "You should try cosplay one day," he suggested, smiling with way too much delight. "I'd bet Dante's fangirls would wanna rape you,"

Kanda managed to get off the chair and grapple with his friend. "Like _I _don't have fangirls wanting to rape me," he retorted.

"It's different," Lavi insisted, grin stretching wider, "Because Rei-chan is a Dante fangirl, but not your fangirl,"

Did he need to be reminded that Reiichi was not attracted to him when everyone else in the world was? "So what? I don't fucking care," he deadpanned, successfully keeping Lavi a safe distance away from him.

"That's what you say," the redhead singsonged, dodging the can of hairspray that flew in his direction. "Come on, let's start the shooting~" he pumped his fist in the air, happily skipping towards the door and flinging it open. "Ladies and gentleman," he began in a deep announcer voice to everyone outside. "The man you've all been—"

Kanda merely pushed him away and stalked past with a pronounced eye-roll.

Predictably, everyone turned to stare at him—photography crew, lighting crew, the brat, and even Reiichi. He felt some sort of satisfaction at gaining her attention for once . He was guessing—because she hadn't spoken to him (no, he was not being spiteful)—that she was trying to mix Eastern and Western elements into the outfit.

The sleeveless trench coat he was wearing was made out of red leather, and he had to marvel at how she manipulated the fabric in such a short time. The collar was cut into a mandarin collar, curved at the ends and rimmed with silver knot balls. Silver rope ran down the front of the coat in a criss cross manner much like a corset over his bare abdominal muscles. He wore gloves made with the same red leather and rimmed with silver that came up to his elbow and fitted snugly into his hands, pulled tight with silver rope. Beneath that he was wearing black arm warmers that came up to just below his shoulder. The huge belt was left undone at his hip, and the jagged edges of the coat flared out at his shins. The dark brown pants he wore were made of silk, a little baggy in contrast to the fitted top he wore. The pants were stuffed into darker brown shin boots that were laced up.

Reiichi was just staring and she couldn't stop from just how…just how incredibly_ hot _he was at the moment. The clothes still looked a little weird in her opinion—perhaps silk and leather did not really go together—but the makeup Fou had applied on him made it all better. She had instructed the makeup artist to give him a high ponytail, clasped with one silver Chinese looking hair clip, and his front bangs styled a little messy. Dark eyeliner with a tinge of silver eye shadow worked the eyes and his lips were painted in a nude shade. His tattoo was uncovered for all to see underneath the corset strings, and she had to admit that his body was…no, she wasn't saying it, oh god. She had seen that naked torso so many times, so it wasn't anything new actually, but suddenly he just looked…well…really_ sexy_.

She blinked after what seemed like an eternity staring at him and realized Lavi had already got into position and Kanda was putting the gun in his hand (since when was he holding that?) to his lips. The set she had requested was actually just a make shift cave with rocks at the bottom that he could stand on, and there was a light placed right behind him that would rim his silhouette, making him glow. If she had given him a huge sword, maybe he would have looked even more like Dante, the half devil, but Kanda would be a less ripped version.

Still, if she considered Dante to be incredibly good looking (because virtual reality guys were usually anyway), then Kanda was not too far off, and that didn't really help her right now. She was vaguely aware of her own heart beating ridiculously fast right now, and the surge of fire through her veins seemed to spread towards her face.

It was amazing, really, how she didn't exactly tell him anything about the outfit she made, but he still modeled like she had told him. The idea she was going for was basically power and vengeance. With both, wrath would be terrifying to be behold. The leather elements would prove toughness, a no nonsense rugged kind of power, while the silk and Chinese motifs were to play on the idea of revenge—revenge for one's kin or lover seemed to be common in Chinese stories she'd read. Kanda's pose on set spoke of all these—the relaxed confident posture, the comfortable and steady grip on the gun, the slight smirk on his lips and that ever intense stare…which was watching her now.

She nearly squeaked when it dawned upon her that Kanda had probably caught her staring rather blatantly for the past few minutes or so and she quickly averted her eyes, trying not to blush. Beside her, Allen was smiling as usual, sitting on a chair likewise, oblivious to her situation. Thank god he didn't notice anything, she thought. She tugged at her collar, feeling a little uncomfortable. Suddenly it just felt too dangerous to watch Kanda model.

A movement beside Allen caught his attention.

"Reiichi—" The boy caught Reiichi's arm before she stood up fully. Kanda was just beginning to model and she usually stayed throughout. "Where are you going?"

He scrutinized her flustered disposition. She wasn't even looking at him back in the face. Despite what Reiichi had thought, Allen did notice certain things, like how slack her hands had gone when Kanda first entered, and then how she was playing with her own fingers, a sure sign of nervousness. He did glance at her once, and found that she was watching with a barely concealed appreciative tint he was not used to seeing on her. She also had gotten slightly redder and she was squirming a little before she stood up. He could roughly guess what was happening, especially after Lenalee had dropped him major hints as to what was going on—as if the loud squeals of excitement wasn't a big clue enough.

"I…I just need some fresh air," she lightly took his hand off her, sounding so off, like she was unsure or scared of something.

"But—" He just watched uselessly as she quickly moved off, almost running away.

Allen wasn't one to say he was exactly thrilled to know Reiichi was starting to like the man he considered the world's biggest idiot, because honestly, he felt like a girl like her deserved so much more, but Lavi and Lenalee were so stuck on the idea. Why? He didn't exactly get it himself, but he could take comfort in the fact that he knew the arsehole pretty well and he could at least be assured that Kanda would treat her right, if they really got together.

For now, it seemed like Reiichi was still struggling with the fact that she liked Kanda, and Kanda had to do something before those feelings backfire. After all, if she was running away one day after she realized her feelings, what would happen if it dragged on?

* * *

From the corner of his eye, Kanda saw the white haired boy reach up to hold Reiichi while she tried to leave, and then he watched her go, knowing that she left because of him. Why, he did not know, but it had something definitely to do with him because of she looked away immediately when he caught her gaze.

"Mmm hmmm," Lavi hummed, as he knelt down, angling the camera. "Lick the gun, baby!"

"Don't call me baby," Kanda growled and ignored him.

He was more concentrated in Allen's direction, where the boy was giving him a grim look, followed by an accusing one. What the fuck. Since when did the Moyashi know anything? Or did the Moyashi know everything, because Reiichi told him? He wouldn't put it past her, since he felt like he was the only one out of the loop.

No, he was not apologizing, even if he did…well, make her cry…Shit. And now those waves of guilt were coming back, because maybe she had walked away because she couldn't stand to see him anymore. She did have her head lowered when she left…could it be that she was crying again? No, that was stupid, because she wasn't the type to randomly cry. Ugh, why was he thinking about this?

He was not going to apologise. He wasn't.

"Uh, Yuu?" Lavi snapped worriedly. "_Wrath_, remember? I don't know what you're thinking about but—"

"I know!" he snapped back defensively, lowering the gun. "Just, give me a moment,"

A murmur that passed throughout the rest of the photography crew did not help to clear his mind. It was odd, because Kanda Yuu never, and I repeat, _never_, asked for break during his shootings. That was why he was so efficient and professional in his work. Even if he had a bad day, he never brought it to his work. Shootings were done with the same quality and standard no matter what. And the fact that Kanda knew this was an anomaly just gyrated on his nerves so badly.

Damn it. Damn her.

Lavi lowered his camera, unsmiling once he realized that Kanda was having trouble concentrating. "Yuu…why don't we take a fifteen minute break, okay?"

"No, fuck, let's finish this," Kanda insisted.

"But I don't think—"

"I can fucking do this—"

"But—"

"Just finish this—"

"Yuu!" Lavi nearly screamed, frowning at him. "Get off the set this instant. I refuse to continue when you're like this,"

They both glared at each other with much ferocity, the air was still and a cold chill settled in the atmosphere.

"Fine," Kanda stormed off the set furiously, brushing past Lavi roughly and headed for his personal room while everyone else watched on quietly.

SLAM.

Lavi ran his hand through his hair several times. "We can't do anything without Yuu," he muttered more to himself. "Fifteen minutes everybody!"

The murmuring increased in the room, no doubt what happened today being the latest gossip for the office. The photographer still wore a grim expression, and he looked around for his cousin, but couldn't find her. Where did she go?

"Reiichi went outside," Allen supplied helpfully once Lavi reached him. "She wanted some fresh air," he explained at the confused look the other was giving him.

"I'll…go talk to her," The redhead finally announced after contemplating a little. He flashed a look at Kanda's shut door. "Not like he's going to be very welcoming," he snorted. "Watch him for me, will you? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid,"

"Other than existing?" Allen raised an eyebrow, a slight grin on his lips.

"You're kind of a jerk, you know that?" Lavi ruffled his hair affectionately, giving him a little pat on the shoulder before he jogged towards the elevator.

Allen shook his head, sighing at Lavi's disappearing figure into the lift. Well, how was he supposed to watch Kanda if the said man was locked in his own room and out of sight? He trudged rather reluctantly to the closed door, tapping on it a few times.

"Kanda~" he tried, but there was no response.

"Kanda!" this time he shouted so loud that the rest of the extras and Fou shut up from their gossip for a second.

Still no response.

Huh. He was playing it the hard way, wasn't he. No matter, he wasn't Allen Walker for nothing. Or rather, he wasn't raised by Marian Cross for nothing. There wasn't much he couldn't do really, if he could say so himself. After all, he did pride himself as one of the street smartest guys ever. If he could hotwire a car or create a fortune with poker, I think picking a lock would be one of the easiest things he has ever done.

But first, he would need a paperclip or a hairpin, which he unfortunately didn't have at the moment. He took out his wallet, searching through the pockets for something that might work and finally settled on a used gift card for a cake store. Well, it was a good thing he didn't throw it away.

Sliding the card into the vertical crack between the door and the frame where the lock was, he inserted the card as far as it would go. Then he tilted the card towards the doorknob, pushing it in further so that the card was in front of the lock. He leaned against the door, bending the card the opposite way to pry the lock open, and he swung the door open quickly, nearly tumbling in.

"What the fuck, Moyashi?" Kanda was staring at him rather freaked out. "Seriously, what the fuck? Did you just pick my goddamn lock?"

Allen stood up, brushing himself before he closed the door behind him quietly. "My name is Allen," he sniffed. "And yes, anyone with half a brain could pick a lock,"

"Huh," Kanda merely eyed him suspiciously.

The white haired boy had never been in Kanda's personal room before, and thus he took a few seconds to take the décor of the room in. Kanda was lounging on a reclining chair, at one side, and the other side was a bare desk with a lotus in an hourglass at the corner. The walls were bare, as expected, but he did not expect a shelf full of CDs and photographs and other…weird things on it. He was also pleasantly surprised at the CD player sitting inconspicuously at the bottom of the shelf.

"You're such a liar, BaKanda," Allen grinned, fingering the CDs. "You claim to hate all kinds of music, yet your collection is bigger than mine,"

"Shut up, I didn't buy any of those," Kanda frowned, but making no move to get up.

"But you didn't throw them away either," the younger boy countered. "Ooh, N*Sync?" he slid one out. "Backstreet Boys? Westlife?" he was having way too much fun. "Is there something you're not telling me?" he teased, "Are you secretly a fanboy for boy bands? Because if you are, just to let you now I have absolutely nothing against—"

"Shut the fuck up," the model repeated, now glaring. "The usagi gave me those, you punk,"

"As you say so," Allen snickered, putting the CDs back, turning his attention to the collection of photographs.

In one was a much younger version of Kanda with a blank look, hugged by no doubt Tiedoll who looked so much younger then with black hair then. In another was Kanda and Lavi in highschool, and then there were other photographs of the model and Lenalee, and even, surprise surprise, of him and Kanda in the midst of an argument. He didn't even remember that photo being taken.

There were random figurines at the section of the shelf below, some of which he recognized, some of which he didn't—he never took Kanda for a figurine kind of guy, and then he realized Lavi was a figurine kind of guy—and there were other stuff like rocks, snow globes and uh, paper weights?

"Why do you have so many paper weights?"

"Why do you have so many goddamn questions?" Kanda demanded back. "In fact, why the hell are you here? Get out of my room,"

"I'm here because I care," ack, Allen sorely wanted to puke.

"You can't lie to save your ass, kid," Kanda rolled his eyes, but he was facing the ceiling. "I mean it, get out of here,"

Allen finally realized how wrong it was when Kanda wasn't moving to throw him out the door. Wow. Reiichi _really _was bugging him. There was no other chair in sight to sit on (there was a table and yet no chair?) so he slid down and sat on the ground. The model was just staring blankly at the ceiling, occasionally shifting his arms but he acted like Allen didn't exist at all. The younger boy sighed.

"You are so depressing," he commented.

"_Joy_," the model muttered sarcastically.

"If you're just going stone at the ceiling, read this," the white haired boy reached into his jacket and practically threw it in the other's face.

Kanda lifted the thing which he figured out to be a magazine, pinching it by the edge like it was some diseased thing. It was pink. Goddamn girly pink. "Where the fuck did you get this?" he demanded. "In fact, I don't want to know," he coughed. "_Freak_,"

"Lenalee gave me it to me," Allen explained rather heatedly. His manliness was taking a huge blow, and this better be worth it. "Just read it, you jerk,"

Kanda scowled but held it properly above his face.

_Ten ways to know you're in love._

"What the fuck, Moyashi?" he exclaimed, offended. "I'm not in love or any shit like that—"

"The name is Allen, you ass," the other easily replied. "And by the way you're moping like some _lovesick_ fool I am inclined to disagree—"

"What the fuck—"

"So prove me wrong and just read it BaKanda!"

Of course, Kanda had to take the bait. "Tch,"

_1. You can't stay mad at her for a minute or two; you actually have to try hard to stay mad._

He was angry now and no, he didn't have to try to stay mad. Damn, it was so goddamn irritating and frustrating to know that he actually screwed up a photoshoot because of her—hell yes he was quite livid at the moment.

_2. You feel shy whenever you're with her._

Shy? Heck, he wasn't shy or any crap like that to no one. Shy? Hah.

_3. When you look at her, you can't see other people around; she's the only one you see._

This was definitely not true because he certainly had perfect eyesight and saw other people around her, take the stupid short beansprout grinning rather disturbingly in front of him at the moment. If she was the only one he saw then it was fucking obvious because she was alone with him, duh. No other explanation.

_4. You get high just from her scent._

Bloody hell who the heck gets _high_ from a smell? Although she smelled pleasant because she didn't wear those overbearing perfumes that made his nose itch which even Lenalee was sometimes guilty of. If he could wield a sword blindfolded then obviously his sense of smell was much stronger and it helped that she just smelled faintly of lavender and soap, which was acceptable in his account.

_5. She becomes all you think about._

Not all for sure. He thought about lots of other things, like ways to murder Lavi and other touchy topics like the Noah and his childhood and soba and sometimes her because she got into trouble quite frequently and now, well, everything concerned her at the moment. But still, it didn't mean anything.

_6. While thinking about her, your heart beats faster and faster._

Most certainly not. His heart never beat faster, unless it was adrenaline from kendo or _sexual desire_ but that had nothing to do with her, because he definitely had not done anything of the sort with her—

"Why BaKanda, do my eyes deceive me or are you blushing?" Allen was grinning rather disturbingly and for a second, Kanda had to admit he was fucking _creeped out_ by him.

"Shut the fuck up Moyashi, your eyes need to be replaced,"

Allen merely shrugged.

_8. You'll realize that you're always smiling to yourself whenever you think about her._

No, he never smiled in the first place. Honestly, this list was pure crap. Now in particular she was getting him frustrated and angry and he was _glaring _dammit! Not smiling.

_9. While reading this, there was one person in your mind the whole time._

…Fuck—

_10. You were so busy thinking about that person, you didn't notice number seven was missing._

Fuck you, Moyashi. Fuck you.

"Fuck you," he said, throwing the magazine back.

Allen caught it easily, stuffing the offending thing back into his jacket. "So, how does it feel like to be in _lurve_, Mr. stoic- cold-and-unfeeling-bastard?" he smirked, loving the way the model immediately tried to deny vehemently.

"I never said I was in l-l.." Kanda faltered off, "in love, dammit! Fuck," the_ l_ word was giving him a bad taste on his tongue. "I fucking _hate_ this love shit and that's why I don't get involved in it!"

Allen snickered, for Kanda really did not know how he was blushing—blushing!—at the moment. Well, it was just a bit of colour but nothing really obvious, but still, this was _Kanda Yuu_. He needed a camera. Lenalee would love this. Lavi would love this. Heck,_ he_ could love teasing the hell out of his frienemy everyday.

"You really are a hypocrite, BaKanda," the younger boy shook his head, trying not to laugh while Kanda's expression got more murderous. "You always do things the opposite of what you say,"

"But I fucking don't like her!" the model insisted. "Why can't you or the baka usagi get it?"

"I didn't say Reiichi was involved in any of this," Allen continued to grin at how Kanda was just digging his own grave.

"Fuck," the other's eyes widened, grinding his teeth. "Just, fuck you,"

"If your small brain can't comprehend such a simple fact—"

"It's not a fact!"

Allen rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to break it into digestible bite sized pieces of information?" he asked, for Kanda's denial was getting a bit old.

"What do you—"

"Okay!" the white haired boy clasped his hands together happily, ignoring the model. "Let's start from what I can remember…ah! From the time you played chauffer to send her to her orphanage—"

Kanda gaped, feeling rather creeped out. "How the hell do you know about that?"

"You look rather _cute_ with little children, did you know that?" Allen continued to wear that freaky smile as he talked on; silencing the predictable _I am not cute_ retort that was so going to leave Kanda's mouth. "Anyway, for you to do such a kind deed was quite unexpected of you,"

"What, did you think I did it for free?" Kanda replied back easily. "She owed me a favour from that,"

The smile on Allen's face twitched a bit. "_Besides that_, you brought her to meet Zuu-sensei and Alma—"

"That was because usagi was _whining _so badly—"

"—and even Tiedoll-san,"

"She was a better choice than all of you, that's all," Kanda crossed his arms.

"Right," Allen snorted. "Oh, how could I forget that one time you stayed beside her through the night when it was storming?"

"I didn't have a fucking choice!"

"Or that night when you and Reiichi had a dinner date at the Japanese restaurant—"

"Were you stalking me?" Kanda sat up suddenly and demanded. "Because I knew it was too suspicious—"

"Sort of," Allen conceded. "Lavi was too hung up over losing his bet to notice that you, has hell frozen over, were scowling like you were _pretending_ to be irritated,"

The model looked away guiltily at this point, having nothing to retort that. "Wait, what bet?"

Allen ignored him. "Or when you didn't think to perform CPR because she wasn't breathing, or when you socked Daisya because you got so angry on her behalf, or getting jealous of Jasdero and Debitto after the concert—oh wait, I forgot about Tyki kissing her—"

"Hold up, brat," Kanda cut him off. "_Jealous_?" he repeated with much disdain. "I'm not jealous—why the fuck would _I_ be jealous?"

Allen shook his head laughingly. "You don't know how you sound like right now, do you?" an amused smirk that Kanda would gladly love to shove it up the brat's ass mocked him. "Let's try this again," he smiled. "Tyki Mikk took Reiichi's _first kiss_ right outside your own house—" He totally noticed the suppressed growl, "—and Reiichi had _chose _to go with Jasdevi instead of you—"

"She didn't _choose_ them, Moyashi," Kanda retorted immediately. "She came after _me_,"

"Uh huh," Allen nodded patronizingly. "And why did you feel like you had to correct me?"

"Because it's the fucking truth!"

"Wrong!" the younger boy grinned at the confused expression on the other. "It's because you can't stand the thought of her being with someone else!"

Where the hell did the brat get all this shit from, honestly?

"Let's not forget you just_ assumed_ she had something against you in particular," the white haired boy continued. "And if that's not enough, you've voluntarily _waited _for her on two accounts, and how about the latest incident—you brought your personal issues into your work which is something you've never done before," Allen finished quickly in one breath to prevent Kanda from interrupting him. "How do you explain that?"

"Where the fuck do you get all this?" Kanda stared at him rather incredulously.

"Word gets around," the younger boy replied easily, still smiling. "So, convinced yet?"

"Huh, _no_," the other snorted. "Bullshit, all of it,"

Allen clucked his tongue in disdain. "You are the most stubborn, ignorant, jackass I ever had the misfortune to meet," he sulked, very tempted to hit the other. "Fine, I'll say this, and don't say I didn't try," he sat up straight, looking into Kanda's eyes seriously. "You rarely swear when you're talking to her and I've never heard you insult her. _Never_. Have you noticed _that?_"

"I-I..I.." Kanda searched his memory for a time when he did swear when talking to her or insult her and his memory drew up blank. What did he ever call her? Virgin girl…slave girl…but nothing really serious. Wait, he did swear when talking to her…once, twice, a few times…maybe. But all that was so long ago, when they just met. One reason why he toned down his speech was because of Lavi, but still that sounded like a really weak defense, especially when he was bound of let out a insult unconsciously. "I-I…dammit," he gave up eventually. "Still, it doesn't mean anything—"

"On the contrary, Kanda," Allen was smirking triumphantly, a little victory dance flashed across his eyes. "It means everything. Did you ever realize that it's considered special treatment?"

Kanda kept silent and Allen knew he won this time around, as usual. He never loses anyway.

"If you think you're treating her like Lenalee, let me tell you Lenalee counted eight _f _words in just your conversation with her yesterday," the younger boy had to add in for emphasis. "And so, if you're doing it all unconsciously, she must really be someone special because you care about her more than anyone else!"

Kanda scowled while Allen beamed back expectantly.

The younger boy wasn't even done yet. "Haven't you ever _wanted_ her?"

The Japanese nearly choked. "W-what the fuck?"

"Are you deaf, BaKanda?" Allen sighed, "I'm asking if you ever wanted to kiss her or touch her or—"

"I heard you, dumbass," Kanda grumbled, and then paused. "…Are you even_ legal_ to talk to me about this? Isn't there a _law_ about minors talking about sex?"

"You bloody twit," The younger boy almost threw his shoe at the other. Almost."Well?"

Reiichi wasn't even as attractive as many other girls he had met, but well, the idea of coming on to her wasn't exactly bad—he was deprived, okay—and sometimes he did find her…what was that word Lavi always used? _Cute._ Maybe. She had pretty decent features, proportioned. Her eyes were always guarded, like his, and that was a familiar thing he could identify with every time he saw her. And her lips…so natural, he did want to taste them once…and maybe now too…what the fuck was he thinking?

Allen was just looking at him triumphantly. Damn him.

So he was in love—in love, hah,—he couldn't get over this—with Reiichi. Biggest bullshit he has ever heard in his life. He just didn't _do_ love. At least, not after Lulubell. Back then he did think he was in love, maybe, but it turned out to be just physical attraction, or lust, whatever. So what made this time different?

He was getting way off track. Right. So the deal was that he liked Reiichi in the ways Lavi was always trying to insist upon him. He could admit first of all that she did have a place in his life like Lavi, Lenalee and grudgingly, the Moyashi. He cared, and he cared deeply, for people he was close to but of course he never really showed it, because that was just who he was. But replaying the events that the Moyashi was listing off to him before, perhaps he was caring too much about her. So much that even he couldn't really comprehend.

That guilt from making her cry hadn't really waned, but in fact kept growing bigger with each passing second that she wasn't talking to him. It was weird without her presence, actually. He was so used to having his green tea made by her in the morning, a quick banter in the car while he drove to them to work, sharing the same frustrations at Lavi who babbled throughout lunch, a comfortable silence on the ride home and eating dinner together before sometimes, making fun of various television programmes on cable.

Now he practically sounded like he was married to her or something, fuck. He just wanted them back to the way they were before.

Was this love? He actually grimaced on that thought. Or was this some kind of sick conspiracy?

"It's love," the brat—he had forgotten the other was still in his room—quipped. Wait wait wait, did the Moyashi read his mind?

Holy crap.

"Well, fuck, I didn't ask for this," the model finally said.

"Newsflash Kanda," Allen smiled back sweetly. "I didn't ask for you too,"

"Shut up," Kanda grumbled, trying to come to terms with his new found feelings. No, he did not like her, no, he did _not_ like her—

The younger boy allowed a minute of silence before he snickered. "So, how does it feel to be in _lurve_?"

The furious blush that erupted on the normally stone cold model's face was totally worth it, even if Allen had to bolt out of the door with death promised fast on his heels. The world was ending, the sky was falling, Kanda was really blushing!

"S-SHUT UP!"

"Aww, Kandy's in l-o-v-e—" He was so going to be decked for this, he knew.

Still, he wished he had a camera.

* * *

"Rei-chan…?" Lavi panted while he called out in the gardens outside the headquarters, assuming that's where his cousin went. "Helloooo~ Rei-chan~~"

He ran past a stone cobble path before he turned towards the koi pond and spotted the person he was looking for sitting on the wooden bench, head tilted up and staring at the cloudless sky.

"Lavi," she jumped once he touched her gently on the shoulder. She sighed, relieved. "You gave me a shock,"

He hummed, sliding in next to her and putting an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. She shifted so that she was leaning on his shoulder, but she still looked at the sky. Suddenly she jerked away, looking at him.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be shooting?" she asked.

"Yuu needed a break," Lavi explained.

"Oh,"

There were birds chirping about and various butterflies flying about amongst the flowers, as well as the occasional plop of the koi when they got too close to the surface of the water. The scenery was pretty relaxing, for Kanda sometimes used to spend his free time here during the working hours when he had nothing to do. Curiously, Kanda was also pretty fond of staring at the sky on the exact same bench.

"Rei-chan," Lavi began after a few moments of silence. "I'll be blunt and say something is clearly wrong between you and Yuu and you guys need to fix this,"

He heard Reiichi sigh heavily beside him but she kept quiet.

"Just…forgive him, okay? I don't know why you don't want to talk to him and I don't know why he's been acting so strange ever since Lena-chan talked to him—"

Reiichi sat up so fast that that neck ached. "What?" she exclaimed, eyes wide and frantic. "Lenalee talked to him?" she groaned when he gave her a nod of affirmation. "Oh my god, shit, I told her not to say anything! He knows, he freaking _knows_, argh—"

Now he was really curious as to what the Chinese had said to his best friend. "What—? Tell me!"

But his cousin was too caught up freaking out. "Shit, this is not happening," she muttered to herself, clenching and unclenching her fists.

"Rei-chan…" Lavi whined, shaking her a little. "I want to know too…"

"I-I-I..I…" she stuttered, upon the intense pleading gaze he gave her. "I-I can't tell you!"

He pouted. "You can't or you don't want to?"

"Both," she replied immediately, cooling down just a bit.

"Okay…" At that he pouted even harder, grumbling. "I can't help you if you don't want to tell your one and only cousin who would do_ anything _for you—"

"Because you can't!" she insisted, and that made him even more disgruntled.

"Look, if it's about Yuu and you," he had to snicker at how the sentence sounded like, seriously,_ Yuu and you_, "I'm pretty sure I can help you with that. After all, am I not the man's best friend forever?"

"You are," Reiichi conceded, _But letting you know would just bring a bigger headache_. "But it doesn't really mean anything if I don't solve this on my own, you know?"

Lavi wrinkled his nose at that. She was always so defensive about him butting into her business. "Well, okay," he relented. "I hope you actually _do _something about it then," he stuck out his tongue childishly at her.

"I'm not going to run away from this, Lavi," she snorted, sounding confident, but really…

Was she really not going to run away from this?

* * *

"Okay, okay!" Allen wheezed, breathing heavily, "I am sorry! I won't do it again!"

A fork grazed the side of his ear and he gulped nervously. Death by sharp pointy objects embedded into his body was really not his exact idea of his own death. He scrambled uselessly around the kitchen counter for something to use as a shield, but as luck would had have it, the side that Kanda was standing at was the side that had all the kitchen utensils.

"Kanda!" he screamed, when Kanda picked up a knife and made ready to throw it at him. "I mean it!" he nearly choked when the other mercilessly chucked it at him. "I'm sorry, alright! _Please_ stop trying to kill me!"

"Your words mean shit to me, wimp," Kanda retorted, fingering another knife he had picked up, but made no move to throw it.

Allen nearly died out of relief. "Sheesh, if you think I'm bad, then Lavi—"

"You are_ not_ going to tell the rabbit," Kanda hissed dangerously, the knife also glinting suggestively under the artificial lighting. "I'll fucking make sure you bleed a slow and painful death, goddamn brat!"

"Okay, okay!" The younger boy, held up his hands in defense. "I won't tell Lavi,"

"You won't tell _anybody_," the model corrected, because he knew if just one person heard about it, he might as well have announced it on prime time news.

The elevator dinged, and Lavi's voice was heard throughout the entire basement. "Yoo hoo, Yuu~~ Are you still sulking? Do you need a happy pill? Or do you want Rei-chan to hug you—ow! Rei-chan—"

Lavi and Reiichi stopped short when they reached the entrance of the kitchen, both blinking at the sight of Allen breathing heavily and gripping the kitchen counter for dear life and Kanda stroking a knife in his hand like he was some insane psychotic sadist serial murderer. Judging by the number of chopsticks and forks and was that a pair of heavy duty scissors, they were surprised that Allen wasn't actually bleeding.

"Hey," Allen waved weakly to the both of them. "Would you unarm him, please?"

Lavi was perhaps the most suicidal of them all, for without missing a heartbeat he tackled the other, ignoring the small sharp pointy object that could potentially kill him and gave Kanda a bone crushing hug. Kanda nearly toppled as he didn't expect it, and wanted to push his friend off for they were _touching_, ugh, but Lavi whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry for shouting at you,"

Kanda cast his gaze away and grunted, letting the other hug him. But if you thought that he was going to say those words back—then you were sorely mistaken. But he did drop the knife to the floor rather grudgingly.

Reiichi watched on, a small smile coming to her lips. The way her cousin hugged people was always heart warming to watch, because Lavi always hugged with a hundred percent or more of his fervour. She could see Kanda reluctantly enjoying it, despite the fact that he didn't hug her cousin back. Hmm, in fact, had he actually ever hugged anyone voluntarily?

Allen came to beside her and patted her on the shoulder. "Feeling better?" he asked.

"Yeah," she smiled back.

A thought crossed his mind and he linked his arms with hers, pulling Reiichi close beside him as she blinked at him in surprise. Shrugging, he said, "Since they're leaving you out," he cocked his head towards the two boys still hugging, "You can have me, Reiichi,"

She laughed and ruffled his hair, grasping his gloved hand in their entwined arm. "I'll gladly take you,"

Allen smirked at Kanda as he and Reiichi left to go to the set, snickering inwardly at how the Japanese was practically bristling at him, but Kanda didn't dare to outwardly curse for Lavi would pick it up. He just thought it was incredibly funny how obvious that Kanda was just so _jealous _at this point and yet he was restraining so hard trying not to show it. Well, it was payback. He blew a kiss at the other just for the heck of it just before he and Reiichi stepped out of the kitchen.

"Allen-chan!" came Lavi's scandalised cry a few seconds later. "Stop touching my cousin in such an indecent manner, you sex fiend!"

Ack. He had forgotten about Lavi.

* * *

_Omake_

"Wow, I can't believe Lavi's plan was working all along," Allen commented, picking at his gloves absently.

"Moyashi," Kanda growled. "He didn't do a _damned_ thing that actually worked,"

Allen thought for a moment. Kanda realizing his feelings was all to _his _credit, in fact. What exactly did Lavi do? Nothing. "…That's true,"

Somewhere out there, Lavi sneezed.

* * *

**Owari.**

I have never played _Devil May Cry_, but I must admit I shamelessly know Dante because of his super sexiness on Deviantart.

What do you think about Lavi's cosplay suggestion? I am thinking of writing one scene in the future where Kanda involuntarily gets pulled into going for a cosplay convention (I have a believable reason why he goes!). I even know what I want Kanda to cosplay as! (Hint: Kanda barely has to dress up at all actually.) Yeah I'm getting excited over something that won't be written so soon….

Kanda in denial was the cutest thing ever to write. I was squealing with fangirl joy, believe me.

No they haven't talked yet. Both of them are stubborn to the max.

And so Lenalee knows Reiichi likes Kanda,

Allen knows Kanda likes Reiichi but he isn't allowed to do anything or he'd die and has to pretend he doesn't know Reiichi likes Kanda,

And Lavi is ironically oblivious to everything.


	28. Chapter 27

-**Imitation Black-**

**

* * *

**

Saturdays mornings were great. The weather was clear, there was a light breeze and the air was pretty fresh. Reiichi walked along the streets of town happily, sometimes stopping to gaze through shop windows, content to just spend the time alone. She felt so much more carefree after knowing Lenalee didn't tell Kanda about her liking him (they had an hour long phone call and most of it Lenalee was trying to convince her to do otherwise)—so she was safe.

After much hectic happenings yesterday in which it took nearly thirty minutes to prevent her cousin from doing something unspeakable to Allen and of course Kanda was of absolutely no help, the _Wrath_ shoot went on without a hitch. She had stayed to watch, but it didn't mean she was looking at him all the time. Majority of it was spent talking to Allen to take her mind off Kanda.

This morning, she was up while Kanda was in the dojo and she practically escaped the house without him noticing. It was pretty pathetic really, but well, she couldn't help it. It was getting worse just _knowing _she was in the same house as he was. And so, she was so caught up in her own musings that she crashed rather painfully into someone else, falling down on the pavement.

"Are you blind, bitch?" a high voice shrilled at her, and she immediately quelled the apology that was on her tongue. How rude.

Reiichi looked up and glared with much annoyance at the other person who hit her. In front of her, another girl of similar age was being helped up but a young man in a classic black suit, complete with sunglasses. The girl looked really familiar—she had blonde hair, and it hung rather loosely. The face however…was a tad bit different then she remembered. There was no makeup—no sign of dramatic eye shadow or dark red lipstick she was so used to seeing.

"…Matsumoto?" she gaped, blinking in confusion.

Reiichi could only keep staring. The Matsumoto she was so used to always wore some expensive dress that rode up high, but today the other was wearing jeans that looked well-worn. Instead of high heels, she had on dirty converses. She was actually wearing a t-shirt! This was so weird.

The girl—Matsumoto—stilled upon hearing her name, staring back with equal shock. "…K-kuroshi?" she demanded, standing up indignantly and brushing off the man.

…What?

"Why are _you _here?" Reiichi asked, because she totally did not expect to bump into her after weeks of absence, and moreover she didn't put Matsumoto to walk around town by herself in such clothes…since she was a rich brat.

"That's none of your business," the other girl snapped, eyeing her suspiciously. "Did you come to laugh at me or what?"

"Oujou-sama—" the man beside her started, but Matsumoto glared at him and he shut up.

The two girls stared at each other rather apprehensively. It was a total coincidence, if Reiichi had to say so. So random, yet not unwelcomed. Words that Tyki had said to her came rushing back. Indeed, where had Mastumoto gone for the past few weeks, and dressed like that? In fact, she would have to say that she herself was dressed better than Mastumoto was.

It was a rare opportunity to get answers.

* * *

For some reason, they both found themselves sitting at _Starbucks_. Reiichi ordered a hot chocolate, but Matsumoto and the man who was following her around didn't get anything. It was really awkward, considering that they both parted on rather questionable terms. Still, the awkwardness with Matsumoto certainly felt a lot more bearable than the one she was having with Kanda.

At that thought, she kicked him out of her mind with much force.

"Well?" Matsumoto suddenly scowled at her, "Are you going to rub it in my face now, or are you still taking your time to gloat about it?"

"Huh?"

The blonde sniffed at her. "Don't act like you don't know anything, Kuroshi," she spat, glaring at her.

"Honestly, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about," Reiichi retorted, getting a little defensive. "Although I do want to ask you what happened, considering you don't look like…how you usually look,"

Matsumoto eyes narrowed further. "You don't know?" she sang mockingly. "Surely Tyki Mikky—"

"It's Mikk-sama, Oujou-sama," the man beside her corrected but he was ignored.

"—told you how I'm_ poor_ now," she grimaced like it was poison on her tongue.

"What?" Reiichi frowned at her. But it did make sense. Her dressing, especially was proof enough.

"Hmph, seems like that bastard was just lying to me after all," The blonde huffed, crossing her arms. "Goddamn pretty face,"

"Why do you know Tyki?" The redhead asked suspiciously, but deep inside her, she had guessed most of it by now.

"Are you jealous that I spend every single day putting up with your boyfriend, Kuroshi?" she sneered. "Or would you like to have a shot with Sherry and Wise-ass or—"

"It's Kamelot-sama and Wisely-sama—"

"Oh shut up, Akira," she snapped at him. "I call them whatever I want,"

"So," Reiichi cleared her throat to get her attention. "Why are you like this?" she eye gestured to Matsumoto's state of attire.

"Why should I tell you anything?" the blonde scoffed. "In fact, I don't know why I'm in even talking to you now,"

"Matsumoto," Reiichi began irritatedly. "Have you forgotten that you kidnapped me and caused me physical hurt—"

"—and your _prince charming_ Kanda-sama just had to save you, right?" the other scorned. "You think I can forget about that?" she laughed weakly. "I hate you, Kuroshi. I really hate you,"

Reiichi frowned. Well, she didn't like the blonde either but that was kind of direct.

"All of _this_, is your fault! If you hadn't danced with Kanda-sama that night…" Matsumoto ranted off, glaring at her. "I wouldn't have…Daddy wouldn't have…"

"Oujou-sama," the man beside her suddenly spoke up, reaching into his suit to take out his wallet. He pulled out a note and pressed it into her hand. "Go get a coffee,"

"Akira, just butt out of this," she snarled back, pushing his hand roughly away. "I don't need your money and I certainly don't want it,"

"Oujou-sama," he insisted, but she bristled. "Junki…" Now at that, Matsumoto stilled. "Please,"

Face stony, the blonde snatched the note and headed for the long queue at the counter, storming away. Once Matsumoto's back was turned, he turned to Reiichi, pulling off his sunglasses, standing up and bowing nine degrees. "I owe you an apology for that day, Kuroshi-sama," he began, "If I had not listened to Oujou-sama, then none of it would have happened,"

Having someone older bowing to her like that was a little unnerving, especially since he made no move to straighten up.

"Umm…could you stand up, please?" As his face came into view, she was surprised to find that his eyes were one of the bluest eyes she had ever seen in her life. It was crystal light, even lighter than sky blue. "Right, um...Akira-san," she started, continuing at his nod of encouragement. "I'm not going to lie and say I've forgiven Matsumoto for that, but neither am I going to pursue it any further…I…still dislike her. Greatly, in fact," she admitted. "But…things will just be worse if this goes on, you know?"

"That's more than I can ask, Kuroshi-sama," he tilted his head down as a sign of respect. "Oujou-sama is ashamed of it even if she doesn't act like she is. Please understand that the way she is…is because of the recent events,"

"What do you mean?"

"Oujou-sama…she…she was caught on tape that night," he explained, averting his eyes. "The Noah family threatened Matsumoto-sama with it, and now Matsumoto Corporation is under the Noah,"

"But Matsumoto-san is still the head—"

"On the outside only," he continued. "The Noah controls Mastumoto Corporation behind the scenes. Oujou-sama is most affected by it all. She has…a lot of restrictions…like her allowance. Oujou-sama is used to the freedom she used to have under Matsumoto-sama," he said regretfully. "I deeply apologise for her behavior today,"

But ironically, Reiichi felt that the Matsumoto now was so much easier to deal with than the Matsumoto she knew in the past.

"Akira-san, you…really care for her, don't you?" Reiichi said softly, spotting the girl they were talking about making her way back.

He just smiled hollowly, putting back on his sunglasses. "I'll do whatever it takes to make Oujou-sama happy,"

Akira pulled out a chair for Matsumoto when she came back, plopping on the seat. She pushed the cup of coffee in her hands towards him. "I don't drink Starbucks," she retorted at his questioning gaze (which was hard to tell with his eyes covered). "You know that,"

A very slight smile tinged at the corner of his lips and he took the cup, taking a sip, and then blanched discreetly. "Excuse me for a moment, Oujou-sama, Kuroshi-sama," he got off the chair and headed to the jug of milk where the utensils were.

Matsumoto snickered. "I still can't believe that guy can't take black coffee,"

Reiichi smiled a little in amusement, drinking her own mug. Matsumoto started to fidget beside her after silence lapsed for a while. The blonde sighed heavily, suddenly turning to the redhead with determined eyes. "I need to know this," she pressed a flat palm on the table. "Are you and Kanda-sama…?"

"What?" Reiichi nearly choked from the sudden question.

"…together?"

The redhead did a double take. Where the heck did she hear that from? "No, where did you get that?"

"Tyki Mikky," the other rolled her eyes. "Should've known he was a lying asshole through and through," then she fixed a serious glare at her. "Anyway, I don't care if you're living with Kanda-sama now but don't you _dare_ touch him—"

"Whatever _I _do with Kanda has nothing to do with you," Reiichi cut her off sharply; feeling indignant at the way Matsumoto was ordering her about.

Matsumoto was just staring at her now. "Y-you…you like him," she stated, looking at Reiichi with a horror struck expression as the other started to flush visibly in shock. "I can't believe it, you actually like him," she muttered. "You've always been putting him down in class and now—"

"Yes," Reiichi sighed, not wanting to hear her own hypocrisy further. "I admit it. I do like him, okay?" The confession out loud just blurted out of her mouth, and it seemed like her body was slow to react for she involuntarily blushed harder when the words tumbled out of her mouth. It was even more embarrassing because Matsumoto was eyeing her. "Quit looking at me like that,"

"Huh," the other snorted. At the corner of her eye, she saw Akira walking back. He sure took his sweet time. "I'll be back in the scene, Kuroshi," she warned the other finally. "When that time comes, I won't hold back," she declared. "Not to you, and definitely not to Kanda-sama,"

"We're going Akira," the blonde announced the moment he stepped into their hearing zone. She stalked past him, not bother to say a farewell to Reiichi. Akira gave her a slight bow before he hurried after Matsumoto steps, leaving Reiichi at the table to finish up her drink.

* * *

Because Lavi just knew neither his cousin nor his best friend was doing anything about their predicament, he was going to employ another one of his awesome, results guaranteed plans. Since they weren't talking, he figured the best way to settle it would be to force them to talk, even it was under the influence of something. Yes, he means alcohol.

_Noel_ headed by Noise Marie was the best club around for his plan. The club was one of his and Kanda's favourite joints, because there were lots of pretty girls and decent people around. Noise didn't take shit lying down in his club—if someone was making a problem, he was booted out immediately by the very efficient bouncers. Thanks to that, Kanda usually didn't get molested too badly because people knew they had to behave, and thus the model could somewhat have a good time.

He went over to Kanda's place at night, immediately noticing how Reiichi smile was full of relief when he entered the kitchen while they were eating. "Soba again, Yuu?" he sniffed at the food on their plates. "Can't you feed Rei-chan something else?"

"Don't bitch about my food when she isn't complaining," Kanda snapped back.

Lavi took the seat beside Reiichi, watching as she poked at the noodles without much appetite. "Not hungry?" he asked her.

"Had a heavy lunch," she answered without much feeling, but he knew it was a lie.

Deciding not to question her, he took the chopsticks off her hands and pulled the plate over in front of him to eat. Kanda just ate quietly across them, pretending that they both didn't exist.

"What's this?" Lavi lifted one particular strand that looked a little too thick to be called soba.

"It's soba," Reiichi stated defensively, knowing that strand was cut by her.

"But it's—"

"Soba," she insisted.

Opposite them, Kanda coughed, but continued to eat. Reiichi contemplated throwing the soup at him.

It was a torture really, sitting here and watching him eat. Well it was better than before Lavi arrived because the tension was so thick she was nearly choking in it. Her stomach was still feeling queasy from the fact that it was Kanda in front of her and she started getting self conscious, hence she lost her appetite pretty quickly. At this rate, she might as well not eat at all. She wanted to leave the table so badly, but it was rude to leave before either of them finished eating. So she settled for watching the Japanese eat.

The way Kanda ate was kind of like an art, actually. He always sat so dignified, arms never touching the table and putting the food into his mouth efficiently. Even the chewing seemed to have some kind of sequence, and eating was like a clean polished affair. Somehow his hair never got in the way….

Kanda stopped his chopsticks in midair and looked back questioningly right at her.

She averted her eyes out towards the living room, trying not to be flustered because Lavi was beside her, Lavi was beside her, Lavi was beside her—

The door bell rang in the midst of her chant and she was entirely grateful, nearly tripping over the chair in her haste to get the door. Allen was waving back at her through the intercom screen and she let him in.

"Hey Reiichi," he smiled once he was at the door.

"Hey," she greeted back, but she was curious. "Why are you here?"

"We're going clubbing together," he answered, a mildly confused look on his features. "Didn't Lavi tell you?"

Uh no, Lavi didn't tell her anything. Then again, Lavi always told her things last minute, so she wasn't surprised. Clubbing, huh. No wonder she could smell Lavi's cologne, like he was freshly bathed. He was even wearing proper black shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows and tight grey pants. She should have guessed.

Looking at Allen's attire, maybe she really should have guessed. The boy was wearing a pretty crisp white shirt and a loose black skinny tie. His gloves were black leather with studs, one of them cut half showing his fingers. He was also wearing low riding black jeans that looked entirely too tight—she pitied his crotch—but overall he did look pretty good.

"You're taller today," she commented, blinking. He was nearly eye to eye with her today.

"Is that what you only noticed about me?" he said dryly, and then pointed at his shoes that he moved to take off. They had a little platform to it.

"Well, you do look good, if that's what you wanted to hear," she laughed, gesturing him inside.

"Who looks good?" Came Lavi's echo. A second later a whistle followed as the two boys in the kitchen stared at them both. "Baby, can you even breathe in those?" the male redhead asked, eyeing the pants. "Aren't they, I dunno,_ five_ sizes smaller?"

"Don't call me baby," Allen frowned. "And yes, they are the right size, although they are just a little fitting to the body,"

"A little?" Kanda snorted. "They look like fucking girl jeans, Moyashi. Anyway, why are you here in my house?" he demanded.

"Honestly, Lavi, did you not tell them anything?" The youngest boy raised an eyebrow at the guilty.

"It was meant to be a surprise!" Lavi defended.

"I'm sure it was," Reiichi muttered and Lavi pouted at this.

"Someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Kanda settled the chopsticks on his empty plate and glared at all of them.

"We…" Lavi started off dramatically. "Are going clubbing!"

Kanda merely looked back at him, bored. "Which one?"

His friend looked offended at the lack of reaction. "_Noel_,"

"Will the brat be carted off by the bouncers?" the model smirked. "Because I don't feel like kicking ass today,"

Allen's smile froze. "Do me a favour and fall off a cliff,"

"Nah, we've all been there before, remember?" but Lavi was snickering at the memory. It was too funny not to.

"Whatever," Kanda got up to dump the empty plates in the sink, after that heading out of the kitchen.

"Yuu~ Where you goin'~"

The model looked at him incredulously, hand already on top of the doorknob. "My room?"

There was a three second stare between the best friends and suddenly Lavi was scrambling out of his chair and trying to let himself into Kanda's room while Kanda had entered and was trying to push Lavi out.

"Yuu~~~"

"Goddammit! Get out!"

The other two in the kitchen merely watched with fascination and confusion. "You know what," Reiichi swiped her plate off the table and went towards the sink. "I don't even want to know,"

A loud slam later signaled that Lavi successfully had broken through and now there were muffled sounds of threats and whines that came from behind the door.

"Neither do I," Allen commented, stepping behind her. "He could at least help you to clean up, that jerk," he started to take off his gloves, motioning to the dishes in the sink that she was going to tackle.

"We have a schedule for this," she explained. An unspoken one actually. "Today's my turn,"

"Still," Allen interjected. "A gentleman would never leave you to do this by yourself,"

"Kanda. A gentleman. Right," she chuckled and rolled her eyes, and then blinked at the hand that came from beneath the full glove that he pulled off.

The hand was dark red and it looked _raw_. The fingernails were death black, and in all it just looked mutilated. It didn't look like skin nor muscle, but some kind of other organic material for there were bumps where arteries and veins were supposed to be.

Allen caught her gaze and looked uneasily at her. "I'm sorry, I forgot you haven't seen this—"

"No, it's alright," she smiled. "I've always thought you wore gloves and long sleeved shirts as a fashion statement,"

"In this kind of weather?" he snorted. "That must take some kind of crazy dedication,"

"True that,"

Reiichi soaped up the dishes while Allen rinsed them for her, putting them neatly in the drying pile next to him. Inwardly, she just wondered why she couldn't like someone like Allen instead—someone she was pretty comfortable with, someone she could talk with, someone who was kind of cute and someone who did have all the right manners in treating people. Too bad he was younger than her.

"Reiichi, are you feeling alright?" Allen asked quietly, noticing the sudden depressing silence.

"I guess not," she replied halfheartedly. She didn't even feel like pretending today.

"Reiichi…" he began again. "BaKanda…is an idiot, but he's an idiot with a good heart," he mumbled like it pained him to do so. "Talk to him…well, there are always some stupid things he would say…but you'll never know till you try,"

She paused. "Why do I feel like you know more than you should?" she asked him suspiciously.

"Eh…" he chuckled nervously. Had he said too much?

"But I know you're right," she continued, turning off the tap since they were both done. "I'm just…_scared_," she whispered. Scared of her own feelings that were growing stronger and stronger.

Allen took in the fear, worry and pain that reflected in her eyes, cursing Kanda for making her life so difficult. He hugged her quickly once, tightly, enough for her to snap out of it in surprise. "If you need anyone to talk to that isn't _Lavi_," he smiled sincerely, "Or Lenalee, I'm here for you,"

She ruffled his hair affectionately. "I know,"

* * *

"Come on, Reiichi!" Lenalee urged, trying to get her to take the dress. "This is perfect! Kanda won't be able to take his eyes off you!"

"Lenalee!" the redhead, half shouted, half whispered, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "Not so loud! They'll hear you!"

They had spent nearly ten minutes arguing about the clothes Reiichi should wear to the club. Lenalee had came over to her place a little later after Allen arrived. The model was absolutely fascinated with the range of clothes Reiichi had in her wardrobe, for most of it was made by her and thus was one of a kind in the world.

However back on hand, Lenalee was insisting she wear this particular black dress that was way too revealing. The neckline was plunging low, not to mention the front was held together by four strings that would expose her navel. The back was even worse, for it was backless till the edge of her tail bone, save for some crisscrossing of strings. Moreover it was short—entirely too short for her taste. If she walked, she would just flash someone unknowingly, she knew it. Why she had it in her wardrobe in the first place at all was because Lavi bought it for her —perhaps as a joke gift, she didn't really know—but it had sat somewhere deep in her closet until today.

"You have the body figure for this, Reiichi," Lenalee was still trying to plead with her. "Don't you want to catch Kanda's attention?"

"No, I don't want to catch his attention!" she denied, horrified.

"You are so lying," The Chinese giggled, grin widening at how red the other's face was going. "Think about it. There will be tons of other girls trying to take your man—don't give me that look—so you have to keep his eyes on you the entire night!"

"Ugh," Reiichi wanted to stick a tongue out at her. He was certainly not hers—_yet_—and while she didn't like the thought of other girls trying to get to him, she didn't want to show off her body. It wasn't like Kanda hadn't seen bodies that were better than hers anyway. "Fine," she conceded grudgingly after some thought while Lenalee pumped a fist excitedly in the air in triumph. "But only if I'm wearing jeans underneath this,"

"Oh Reiichi, you're such a downer," Lenalee sniffed, "Fine, you can wear jeans with that, but I'm choosing the jeans,"

Reiichi groaned.

"Why the fuck are they taking so long?" Kanda tapped the edge of his sofa impatiently. They had been waiting for half an hour since their agreed time that they would all leave his house and the two girls were still stuck in Reiichi's room. He knew Reiichi never really delayed in the bathroom, and thus it must be Lenalee's fault.

"The wait is worth it, Yuu," his best friend hummed beside him, eyes on the television. "Lena lady must be dressing to impress,"

"Lenalee was already dressed when she came," he retorted. "What the hell does she need to do?"

Allen shrugged, flipping the channel once more. "Girl things,"

Ten more minutes passed and they were still waiting.

"I'm going to drag them out," Kanda growled, stomping over the room.

"I wouldn't do it if I were you," Lavi called lazily from the couch.

Kanda ignored him, reaching the front of the door within seconds. However before his hand could reach the doorknob, the door swung open, catching him off guard.

"I don't care about makeup! Let's just go, Lena—" Reiichi stopped abruptly when she came face to face with the Japanese standing at her door.

He just stared. He wasn't used to this. Reiichi never wore clothes like these. Her daily wear consisted of comfortable jeans, t-shirts, sometimes dresses or weirder outfits for formal occasions…even at home she wore really short shorts sometimes, but never like…_this_.

The fabric she wore clung tightly to her curves, and he never noticed just how flat her stomach was. He never saw her exercising, so how the heck did she get that? The choker she always wore now brought a lot of attention towards her collarbone that looked back enticingly at him—he was so tempted to just do _something_ there—and also towards her chest area where she was showing more cleavage than normal. His eyes roamed over her figure, noting he never saw he wear the particular pair of jeans she had on till today.

Reiichi was just stunned, staring mouth almost agape at the man right in front of her. For the past few days she had been avoiding him, today was probably a great shock seeing that he was suddenly really close to her now. His intense gaze was upon her, eyes flickering from head to toe to take in what she was wearing. Likewise, she was looking at his attire—he was dressed in all black today, but what was unusual was that he left his hair down.

"Reiichi!" came Lenalee's scandalized cry from behind. "We're not ready yet!"

Reiichi snapped out of it, turning back to answer but the Chinese was tugging Reiichi back, and Kanda did not miss that particular glint in Lenalee's eyes that spelled trouble. When a smirk appeared on his childhood friend's lips, he knew something was up. And thus when Reiichi tripped over something on the floor that seemingly had been there all this while as she turned back, he had no choice but to lunge forward and catch her.

Reiichi bit back a surprised yelp when strong arms came to envelop around her back, his bare skin grazing her and she froze. Her hands had reflexively reached out to clutch his shoulders, feeling the tense muscles beneath his shirt and his scent invaded her senses once again. Musk. Sandalwood.

"Clumsy," his deep baritone came too close to her ear and she shivered, realizing how much she missed talking to him that even his voice was making her heart race.

She was so aware how close she was to him right now, and she could only hear the sound of her own rapid heartbeat as she tried to breathe. But there wasn't time to answer as Lenalee pulled her away from his grasp and steadied her.

"Are you okay? Be careful there," she chided, then turned to Kanda and pushed him out of the door. "Kanda-kun! Be more patient! Stay out till we're done!" Lenalee frowned at him, but she shot him a smirk before the door fully slammed in his face.

He walked back to the living room in a daze. What the hell just happened?

"Did Lena-chan slap you?" Lavi turned to look at him when he came into view. "You look a little red there,"

Allen merely snickered.

Behind the door, Reiichi wandered towards her bed to sit down. "Lenalee…" she started off seriously. "I think I'm going crazy,"

"Hmm?"

The redhead didn't say anymore, for she covered her face with her hands and proceeded to blush heavily, as if the events that happened seconds ago finally hit her brain. "Holy crap…" she muttered, images of what just occurred whizzing through her mind.

The look in his eyes when he stared at her, his hair that brushed past her face when he caught her, the feel of his body when she was pressed so close, his scent and lastly his _voice_—she was going insane.

Crazy.

Off the rocket.

Bonkers.

Lost her marbles.

Why? Because she wanted it again.

"You're smiling, Reiichi," Lenalee teased from the side.

"Oh shut up," she mumbled, curling her lips and sealing them shut to prevent a grin from slipping out.

* * *

They all squeezed into a taxi—although it was illegal to have five people in the taxi but the female driver relented if Kanda sat in the front passenger seat—and they reached _Noel_. The booming loud music was heard from outside the club, where two huge men were stationed at the door, guarding the long queue outside.

"It's Kanda-sama!" a girl whispered excitedly the moment Kanda stepped out of the car, causing everyone in the queue to turn towards their group.

"It's Lee-san," some males in the crowded murmured, looking at Lenalee appreciatively. Lenalee winked at a rather good looking one, earning the male happy slaps from the rest of his friends.

"Aish," Allen snorted. "I was hoping for once we won't be mauled by your fangirls, Kanda,"

Kanda huffed, ignoring the squeals and calls that some of his fans were aiming at him now. "It's not my fault they want me,"

Lavi called the group over to the entrance, skipping the entire queue. He was bumping fists with someone at the door, who smiled at them as they filed into his sight. The man was big and imposing, with almost his entire head shaved, only the middle of it tied into a braid down the back of his head. He wore headphones that were glowing white.

"Good to see you guys again," the man opened his eyes and Reiichi realized he was blind.

"This is my cousin," Lavi grabbed her and hugged her with one arm. "She's Reiichi,"

"Ah yes," the other tapped his earphones for a moment. "Her sound is similar to yours," he smiled. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Noise Marie,"

Reiichi shook his hand and smiled. "It's a pleasure," but she was wondering what he meant by her sound.

"Cut the pleasantries and just let us in, Marie," Kanda snapped, getting irritated with the shouts of declarations and proposals of marriage to him by his adoring fans.

Marie chuckled knowingly. "Right this way," he nodded to his bouncers who parted to let them him.

He led them in where the music suddenly sounded so loud that it vibrated in her eardrums. The lights were flashing to the beat on the dance floor where many people were grooving, but they walked past that and headed towards the other side where there were little private booths situated at the corner.

"Been blubbing before, Reiichi?" Allen beside her quipped, making small talk.

"Yeah, but not this one," she answered, but her gaze was roaming about the interior of the club. "It _is_ kind of weird to club with your male cousin, you know," then she eyed him suspiciously. "Allen, aren't you…not legal for this?"

He was sixteen right? Then again, was Lenalee even eighteen either? Or was she seventeen?

"I'm eighteen today, Reiichi," he told her, smiling. "I am legal," he slipped out a card from the back of his pants and showed it to her.

"Where this you get this?" she incredulously asked, for it was a fake ID that looked authentic.

"If I told, I would have to kill you," he said seriously. "Nah, just kidding," he took the card back into his pocket. "I got it off one of my poker buddies,"

"Poker too? You are so not the young and innocent boy I thought you were," she commented, shaking her head.

"But I _am_ young and innocent," he blinked back with wide eyes at her, fluttering his lashes innocently.

She tried not to laugh.

* * *

The booth they were in cancelled a lot of noise from the dance floor, and there was a small curtain to keep their area private. Allen sat nearest to the opening; next to him were Lenalee, then Reiichi, Lavi and finally Kanda on the other side of the opening.

"We're going to get super smashed tonight, people!" Lavi began, hugging a bottle of vodka close to his chest. "So to start off this party, let's play a drinking game!"

"Oh hell no," Kanda muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We'll get smashed without the stupid games,

"Come on, Yuu," Lavi stuck his tongue out at him. "You party pooper, spoiled sport, wet blanket—"

"BaKanda's just scared of being the first one to get drunk," Allen snickered. "Lightweight,"

"If I recall Moyashi, I had to drag _your _drunken ass back to your house the last time," Kanda sneered back.

"You cheated that time, arse!"

"I do _not _cheat," The male model looked offended.

"He just doesn't play by the rules, right Yuu?" Lavi cut off what he anticipated to be another senseless quarrel. "Anyway, we're not playing Truth, Dare or Drink this time,"

"Thank god," both Allen and Kanda muttered while Lenalee tried to smother her laughter at the memory of what happened the last time.

"We're playing 'I've Never'," Lavi went on. "You guys all know this game right? Basically, if you've done it, drink one shot. We'll see who gets drunk first," he smiled evilly, and then he snapped his fingers. A waiter came to his side immediately.

"Since it's Rei-chan's first time clubbing with us," he slid an arm around her waist, grinning, "She'll choose the mix," he announced. "So, what will it be? Tonic water? Sprite? Cranberry juice? Tomato juice? Fruit punch? Coke? " then he grinned even wider. "_Red bull_?"

"Green tea," she decided finally, then she noticed Lenalee smiling too wide for her own good at her and Lavi was just blinking. "What?"

"Strange, Yuu likes that too," Lavi looked at Kanda suspiciously like Kanda had somehow bribed her to choose green tea, and then when Kanda was pointedly ignoring him, he turned back on her, waggling his eyebrows. "Are you just being biased towards your _koibito_, Rei—ouch! Okay, okay,"

She had thought he had given up on his match making attempts seeing that he hadn't tried anything in a while, but she realised she shouldn't have had her hopes up. In fact, she was beginning to feel suspicious, like today was another—ugh, another—attempt by him.

"Green tea it is, then," Lavi passed the bottle of vodka to the waiter who nodded.

Minutes later shot glasses were passed around and a bowl of crackers was placed in the middle alongside the other shot glasses. The game began.

"Rei-chan, you go first," Lavi beamed.

"That's only because you get to go second," Allen muttered, but he didn't object.

Reiichi glared at Lavi pointedly. "I've never tried to match make my cousin,"

"Damn," he sighed, pouring the shot into down his throat as the rest of them around the table snickered.

"I've never kissed Yuu on the cheek," Lavi grinned when it was his turn as his cousin grudgingly drank her shot.

The vodka spread warmth throughout her entire throat and neck and it pooled a warm heat in her stomach as it went down.

"Since when?" Lenalee spoke up excitedly. "You didn't tell me this, Reiichi!"

"I wasn't aware I had to," she answered blandly giving Lenalee a look, wishing that they'd move on.

"I've never stalked me," Kanda was next.

Lavi and Allen and Lenalee had to drink to this one. Kanda smirked at the two boys, but he was surprised at Lenalee. "What did you do?" he demanded.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," she sang, prompting the Japanese to growl threateningly.

"I've never lost a bet," Allen quipped, loving the way _everyone else_ had to take a shot.

"I've never fantasized about my teacher," Lenalee continued the game.

To this, Lavi and Reiichi drank.

"What?" Lavi spluttered at his cousin. "I can't believe I didn't know this! Who? Who was it?"

"I'm definitely not telling you that," she snipped, narrowing her eyes. "I've never been drunk,"

Only Lenalee didn't drink to that.

"Oh yes you will by today," her cousin grinned teasingly. "Since Yuu has only one shot so far," he smirked at the other. "I've never been mistaken for a girl,"

"Oh fuck you, usagi," Kanda grumbled, slamming the shot glass on the table when he was done.

"I've never hugged Rei before," the model shot back in retaliation.

Lavi scowled at how if Kanda listed all the things he has done with Reiichi then he would certainly be the first one drunk off his ass tonight. He lifted the glass to his lips and let the liquid slide in, and nearly spat it out when he saw that Lenalee and Allen were drinking their glasses too. Lenalee he could understand but Allen? Allen?

"Allen-chan? Y-you..you…"Allen hugged his cousin? Since when? Why did Allen hug his cousin even before Kanda did? How could this happen?

"Yup," the bastard was smiling back at him innocently as he sulked. "Just today, in fact," Allen slid a smirk towards Kanda who was glaring at him like he wanted to tear him into pieces.

"You are so dead, Moyashi-chan," Lavi muttered. "After tonight, you won't even have hands to touch my cousin, hah!"

"Lavi…" Reiichi rolled her eyes while Lenalee just watched on amusedly.

"Mmm hmm," Allen hummed, not at all bothered. "I've never made out with my _best friend_," a full blown smirk was upon the white haired boy's lips.

"Ooh, I haven't seen dark Allen for a while now," Lenalee laughed as Lavi and Kanda's hands curled around their shot glasses.

What?

Honestly.

What?

"Lavi…is there something you're not telling me?" Reiichi asked her cousin once he set the glass down.

"That I'm in love with Yuu and we're planning to get married, only that it's not legal in Japan?" he answered seriously in a heartbeat.

"The fuck," Kanda slapped the back of Lavi's head hard. "It was a fucking dare," he glared at Allen. "And it was never to be mentioned again!" then he turned to Lenalee. "Woman, stop laughing!"

"Relax, Rei-chan. I won't take your man," Lavi grinned, patting her back. "Though, I can tell you that Yuu is a reeeally good kisser with _first-hand experience_—"

"There was no tongue you fucker!"

"Oh come on, you were totally _moaning_—"

Woah, way too much information.

"I think I'm going to puke," Kanda grimaced, looking rather disgusted. "That wasn't even _funny_, usagi," he covered his mouth, and then rushed out the booth.

Lavi hooted after him. "Aww, Yuu, come back!" he whined. "It's just a joke!"

Reiichi didn't know whether Kanda's reaction was more appropriate than the other two observers who were laughing till they cried.

"Oh my Lord," Allen snickered rather loudly. "I_ need_ to get a camera. His face. Best. Ever,"

Lenalee couldn't even put in her comment for she was gasping for air between her laughter.

Kanda came back a minute later, sitting down stiffly beside Lavi as though Lavi was going to rape him any moment. "Not another word," he hissed to the other. "Lenalee," he looked at the Chinese, annoyed. "Your turn, now," he ordered.

"I've never made soba before," she said, giving him an innocent look back.

He scowled, reaching for another shot. Across him, Reiichi did the same reluctantly.

"WHAT!" Lavi sat up straight, demanding. "Since when? How come you don't tell me anything?"

"I wasn't aware soba making was such a big thing, Lavi," she sighed.

"I find it really amusing that you're discovering things from the person you're supposedly closest to," Allen commented while Lavi sulked.

"So Kanda-kun," Lenalee started, grinning. "Did she pass your standards?"

"She—" he stopped suddenly, realising it was a trap.

"Yuu? Seriously?" Lavi turned to hug him happily as the model jerked back in reflex. "_You_ were the one to teach Rei-chan?"

"Stop fucking touching me, urgh!" Kanda fought with the arms that tried to envelope him. "Yes, I kind of did so will you stop that!" he shouted, scowling.

Lavi relented, leaning back gleefully. "I hear the wedding bells~" he dodged the punch that was aiming for his face.

"I honestly don't get it," Reiichi rolled her eyes at how Lenalee and Lavi were shooting her those suggestive looks, and even Allen was smiling at her.

"Rei-chan," Lavi tutted, "You see, that's like…Yuu _proposing_ to you or something," he explained. "Because it never happens,"

She raised an eyebrow at that, for it was definitely an exaggeration. Nonetheless, she blushed a little at the word 'propose' because her imagination just took a plane and kind of went on its merry way. Luckily all of them were starting to get red due to the alcohol content and so it couldn't be seen. She made extra care not to look at Kanda. Anyway, it was her turn now.

"I've never lied about my age,"

"Reiichi, that wasn't fair," Allen sniffed, but took his shot as Reiichi blinked back innocently at him, much like what he did to her earlier.

Lavi cackled as his turn came. "I've never got hit on my by teacher,"

Kanda glowered back, finishing his shot and retorted, "I've never asked my teacher out and failed," to which Lavi drank.

"Hmm…" Allen tapped his fingers on the table thinking. "I've never played the sax,"

All curious eyes looked around and they rested upon the person who they least expected—you've guessed it, it was Kanda.

"What?" the male model demanded angrily as he slammed down the empty cup.

"HOW COME I DON'T KNOW THIS?" Lavi anguished, sobbing dramatically. "I'M SUPPOSED TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU!" he emphasized to Kanda who looked unimpressed. "I'M YOUR BEST FRIEND!"

"That's self declared, moron," his maybe not best friend snarked, crossing his arms. "Why did you have to open that goddamn big mouth of yours, Moyashi?"

Allen shrugged.

"Wow, even I didn't know that," Lenalee murmured. "And I've known Kanda-kun longer than you have,"

Reiichi only looked at him rather surprised. Didn't he say he hated all kinds of music? Wasn't the sax, well, an instrument that played music? More importantly, was there anything that he couldn't do?

"I want to hear you play," Lavi nudged Kanda, whining pathetically to which Kanda shot Allen a _you see this is what happens? _glare.

The game continued, and Lavi's initial plan to do something about Reiichi and Kanda more or less went out the window as Reiichi, him and Lenalee stayed relatively sober while the other two kept downing the shots, purposely picking at each other.

"You know, neither of you can hold your liquor," the male redhead commented lazily as he watched Kanda take another glass courtesy of Allen. "I thought giving you guys half the normal alcohol content we usually drink would prolong the game, but no, you guys are drunkkkk! Losers!"

"Shut up," both of them snapped back in unison, but both their faces were flushed red from the alcohol.

"I'm not fucking drunk yet," Kanda insisted, yet there was a slight slur to his words. "Though the brat is so wasted," he snorted. "Weakling,"

Allen hiccupped. "Take that back, jerk," he retorted, but the effect was a bit lost as he stumbled over his words. "This game isn't over yet,"

"You guys are boring!" Lenalee frowned at them both. "Why must it always end up as a competition between you two?"

"Because they need to prove themselves or they'll explode, according to the rule book of 'Men and their Egos'," Reiichi said dryly.

"Well, I'm going to hit the dance floor," the Chinese announced, standing up and gesturing Allen to move. "Reiichi, want to join me?" she held out a hand, smiling.

"I don't really dance," she wrinkled her nose, declining. The last time she went clubbing, she had many unwanted bodies plastered to her, the smell of sweat was so overbearing, music was too loud and the heat was insane. "I'll pass,"

"Rei-chan!" Lavi was pushing her from the back. "Go! Come on, dance with me?" he gave her puppy dogs eyes. "Unless you want to dance with Yuu, then—"

Reiichi immediately stood up, regretting slightly as a wave of dizziness from the alcohol passed through her head, then she yanked his hand. "We're going,"

"Hey, don't ditch me with…" Allen hiccupped weakly as he stood at the side, grasping the table for support as he let Lenalee move out. "..BaKanda," he made to follow after Lenalee but he tripped a little along the way. "Lenalee…" he whined like a little child and Reiichi had to smother her laughter at how he sounded like.

"Yuu, you coming?" Lavi cocked his head at his quite intoxicated friend, amused at how glazed the model's eyes were. No matter how much Kanda denied it, he had a pretty low alcohol tolerance.

"I'll head on first," Reiichi stated, becoming uncomfortable when Kanda kept looking at her, not saying a word.

She slipped out of the booth before Lavi could say anything, the loud music immediately tearing her ear drums apart as she dove in the crowded dance floor to find Lenalee and Allen. There were way too many people. A hand suddenly wrapped around her wrist and she was pulled in some direction, finally coming face to face with Lenalee who grinned at her happily, moving to the beat. Normally this wasn't really her kind of thing, but the alcohol in her system had dulled her senses a little, and the high that was the energy of the dance floor was transferring to her as Lenalee danced around her.

_I can see it in your eyes _

_Girl, I know what you're thinkin'—__  
__You wanna be my number one so whatcha waitin' for_

_After all that's said and done_

_Baby you're my only one__  
__My only fantasy just can't keep__my hands__down—_

Somewhere at the corner of her vision, Reiichi spotted Allen laughing and dancing with some other random girl. She rocked to the rhythm naturally, smiling as Lenalee pulled on the tie of the guy she winked to earlier playfully, lifting her arms up and swaying her hips to the music. She was almost jealous at how Lenalee was just having so much fun—but her musings were cut short when arms wrapped around her from the back, and she stiffened for a second.

"'Ello…" came the very familiar voice of her cousin's and his breath smelled heavily of alcohol past her ear.

_Baby, let your mind go—_

_I'll take it real slow—__  
__Just get inside… make you feel alright…_

_I know you want more—_

_Come now,__lose control…__  
__Let your… _

_Inhibitions go—_

He twirled her around, and she noticed at his face was a lot more flushed than she remembered. "Did you drink some more?" she asked.

"Eh…Yuu asked for it," he slurred, but for some reason he managed to stay on his feet as he stepped side to side in beat with her.

_Be the one—_

_Be the one—_

_Do you right_

_(Ri-ah-ah-ah, Ri-ah-ah-ah)__  
__Baby, come over tonight—_

Lavi's hands slid behind her back, pressing her closer as they both grooved, and she locked her arms around his neck smiling. On another day she would muse how odd it was to dance with her cousin, but today it was more fun to let go and enjoy herself. It did help that Lavi was a lover of dance, and he did pull her into dancing random tunes with him before, and so she was twirling around with his hand guiding her into familiar steps, albeit faster in tandem to the current beat.

_Girl I swear—__  
__I'm never going through this again__  
__I know that you thought you'd win__  
__And before I give you another try—__  
__I'd die—_

It seemed like forever that they were on the dance floor, and she did wonder where Kanda went to. Was he still in the booth? Or was he dancing? The idea of him dancing was actually a little weird, but she realised she had done formal dancing with him before.

_There you go—_

_Tryna tell me how to be a man__  
__When that's something you just __don't understand—__  
__It's time to bring your truth to light__  
__No lie—__  
_

"_Love won't make you__cry or ask why_—" Lavi sang in tune, grinning as he executed yet another dance move that was not possible for someone who looked kind of drunk. "_Oh why—"_

_So I'll deny my heart 'cause__  
__I won't live a lie—__  
__Why try—_

A familiar flash of long black hair that was ironically too perfect to be any of the other girls in the club caught her eye when Lavi sent her on another twirl, and she moved so that she could see better. Yes it was Kanda, and the first thing that made her mind almost stop thinking was that Kanda was actually club dancing.

_Your heart is empty__  
__And you're so cold__  
__You don't care about you and I—_

He was roaming his hands down the sides of some girl in front of him as he moved, head plastered to the crook of the girl's neck. She nearly stopped moving but Lavi's hand was urging her along, and she continued to watch almost entranced as Kanda rotated his hips in tandem with his dancing partner, shirt riding up and exposing a little of his unblemished well chiselled body. He had turned the girl around suddenly and she could almost hear him growl under his breath, hands now placed on the side of her hips and bodies pressing even closer—

_Your heart is empty—_

And the girl slid her hands up his chest, up his neck and finally pulling him down to kiss him.

It wasn't even a small peck on the lips but a full blown make out session, for she could see that Kanda immediately took dominance, tongue sliding into the other's and kissing even deeper and pulling her closer by the waist, and there was just this look of pure bliss on the girl's face—

_Your heart is gone—__  
__My heart is strong—_

"Rei-chan?" Lavi held her in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

She didn't even know what she was feeling at the moment. She couldn't feel anything, couldn't say anything but just to stare in that direction. Everything was just numb, and the only thought that passed through her mind was that she needed to get out of here. Breaking away from Lavi's hold, she headed quickly towards the exit, feet moving on their own.

_Leave me alone—__  
__Leave me alone—_

"Rei-chan!" her cousin voice sounded really far away at this point and she ignored it, steps becoming faster and before she knew it, she was running.

_Girl, because your heart is empty—_

The cool night air hit her skin once she was out the door, and she breathed heavily, stumbling across the road towards the empty sidewalk. The streets were eerily empty at this hour, but she didn't really care what hour it was now.

She couldn't hear anything but the sound of her own rapid heartbeat pounding in her head. Pain was seizing through her chest, and she tried to breathe, only to have those unwanted images repeating on loop in her head. She wanted so badly to just…just…make that girl disappear. She knew she was firstly, incredibly jealous. So jealous that feelings of resentment towards the girl she never met before started to pool heavily, and before she knew it she was clenching her fist so hard that it hurt her own palm.

Secondly she knew now that Kanda didn't even like her anything more than a friend, and that hurt a lot. It was so stupid, agreeing to wear this outfit under Lenalee's influence in hopes that he would, she didn't really know what, take notice or something. She realized how naïve she really was all along. If Kanda ever showed interest in her, it was merely because she was just female. The opposite sex. He was used to sleeping around, perhaps, with no strings attached. Kanda was used to his kind of lifestyle, but she wasn't.

She hated the way he was controlling her emotions—anything he did just affected her in some way, making her feel flustered, happy, angry, guilty, jealous and lately, hurt. It was entirely a mistake to like him. It was unwanted, unwelcomed, she didn't need this right now. Or ever, in her life. Sometimes even she was getting scared of herself, feeling like she was losing to the tide of her uncontrollable feelings that swept her away in a mess. Half the time she didn't know if she actually thinking about anything else but him, and the other half was because she was consciously trying not to think about him.

The worst part of all?

She was falling even harder for him.

* * *

**Owari.**

Well if you thought Kanda was going to confess and Kanchi would live happily ever after, you thought wrong. It's never that simple~ I believe Kanda is the type to not do anything about his feelings until it overwhelms him. They're both kind of alike, aren't they? Realizing they like each other and not doing anything about it.

So finally, the issue of Matsumoto is wrapped up! Hopefully. Although it's entirely too late (because I was supposed to write it in chapter 15 haha), it was a request from my 100th reviewer, **cherry-888**, to serve Matsumoto's punishment wherein she loses all her money. I do very much like Akira although he was initially made for the single purpose of knocking Reiichi out in the beginning because obviously, Matsumoto has no clue on that kind of stuff. Akira was very useful here. :D

I found out that writing Allen was pretty enjoyable, and so he has been making more of appearances as of late…

I have never been to a club, and so if it's a little odd, forgive my lack of real life experiences XD I find it amusing that I had to google '_how many shots to get drunk'_, _'how do you act like you're drunk'_, '_club music'_, '_clubbling clothes'_ and even '_how to club dance'_. Yeah I'm pretty pathetic hahahaha.

Songwise:

At first I planned to use _I've Got A Feeling_ by **Black Eyed Peas** and _Poker Face_ by **Lady Gaga**, but I reallyyy wanted Lavi to sing "_Love won't make you cry or ask why, oh why_," and so the songs came from** JYJ** instead – _Be The One_ and_ Empty._

Finally, Kanda and Reiichi do talk in the next chapter! Finally.


	29. Chapter 28

**-Imitation Black-**

**

* * *

**

"…Ngh.." Kanda groaned, hand shooting up to grasp his head as his mind throbbed painfully, shooting pain signals throughout his brain. A second later he let go, not because the pain dulled, but because he was too tired to even lift his hand. There was just a bright slit of light beneath his closed eyelids, and he cracked one eye open, immediately wincing from the sudden contrast.

It took a minute to focus, and then he realized he was just staring at white, which was his ceiling. Something or someone nudged him on the arm, but he couldn't think of who it was, except for the fact that he had a headache, and it was a really bad headache. Hands tried to pull him to sit up, but he couldn't even feel his body. Suddenly a face was plastered right in front of him and he just blinked, and then winced as another shot of pain racked his head.

"You're goddamn heavy," The other person snorted, mercilessly heaving Kanda up.

A glass of cold water and a tablet was pushed into his fingers, and he took the tablet into his mouth, washing it down with the water. The cool liquid helped to soothe his overly dry throat, and the headache lessened a little. After a while, he turned to the other person in the room.

Lavi was waiting expectantly for him to say something.

"…What?" Kanda managed after finding his voice, wincing with how his voice sounded louder than he anticipated in his head.

"Can I talk to you now?" Lavi's tone was uncharacteristically serious.

Kanda gulped down the rest of the water, placing the empty glass on his side table. The clock read 10 48 a.m. Huh, considering he woke up at around 5 or 6 every morning, it was late. It would take a little while more before the medicine took care of his hangover though. He got up from his bed, muscles protested, and padded slowly towards his closet even as his head throbbed again.

"So? Spit it out,"

"Yuu," Lavi caught his hand before he could take his towel—he really wanted to bathe and get rid of the disgusting alcohol smell on him and he was still wearing clothes from yesterday—and turned him around with a firm hand to face the other. "I mean it. I want to talk to you,"

On further scrutiny, Lavi looked worn and tired, eye a little bloodshot with dark eye circles as though he pulled an all nighter. But the look on his face was more grim and serious, in fact, he looked kind of angry, which was unusual.

"I am listening to you," Kanda insisted, trying to shove his hand away, but his friend wasn't relenting. "Okay, what the fuck is it?" he scowled. "I'm having a headache and I want to shower, so talk,"

Kanda didn't expect Lavi to yank him by the collar and push him against the wall roughly, body pressing against his to prevent him from moving. It hurt, dammit, when his back collided with a wall, and he nearly lashed out in retaliation but stopped when he looked at Lavi again. Lavi was furious.

"Yuu," the redhead growled. "I am this close—" he pushed the model harder against the wall, "—to breaking your jaw if you think for a second that I'm not being serious,"

Kanda glared back. "The fuck," he hissed, eyes flashing dangerously. "Let me go or else,"

"No," Lavi stated firmly, keeping a strong grip on both of his friend arms. "You listen,"

A light headed feeling was spreading through his head and Kanda felt the medicine slowly taking care of his hangover. That was good, because he could focus and think clearer now, but it still wasn't good having an irate friend threatening you for god knows what.

"What the fuck did you do to Rei-chan yesterday?" Lavi shoved one hand up against his neck and gripped rather painfully.

"W-what?" the model coughed, stilling a little in his violent movements to break out of Lavi's hold.

"What did you do to her yesterday?" the redhead repeated, eye burning with so much fury that even Kanda had to be wary.

"I didn't do anything to her—"

"Yuu, if you don't tell me by three counts, I swear to god I will do something fucking _drastic_," Lavi was positively _livid_. "One,"

"Lavi," Kanda growled, hoping that the use of his friend's name was an indicator that he wasn't fooling around. Lavi's grip was fucking _painful_ on his throat at this point. "I did not—"

"Two,"

"Fuck, will you just listen to me! I did not do anything—" He raised his voice, temper staring to flare.

"Thre—"

"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Kanda snapped, screaming at him. "IF I SAID I DID NOT DO ANY FUCKING THING, IT MEANS THAT I DID NOT DO ANY FUCKING THING!"

"THEN TELL ME WHY SHE SEEMS SO DEAD NOW, HUH?" Lavi yelled back, not caring at all if his voice was harsh and raw. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S MORE PAINFUL THAN SEEING HER CRY?" he yanked the front of Kanda's collar even closer, clenching so hard that the fabric was going to have permanent finger creases. "IT'S WHEN SHE BECOMES WITHDRAWN! EMPTY!" his scream echoed in the room. "LOST!" The redhead breathed harshly, leaving the entire room to come to a silent standstill.

Kanda just kept quiet, eyes unreadable. Well, fuck, he didn't even know what he was feeling at his point either, being accused of something that he didn't do and moreover it was about Rei. Becoming withdrawn? It wasn't like she wasn't becoming withdrawn towards him either for the past few days. If Lavi thought he was the only one being aggravated about it all, then his friend was fucking wrong.

He opted to ask calmly. "Why are you fucking assuming that _I_ did something?"

"Because whenever it's _you,_ she won't tell me anything," Lavi released him, fingers trembling from the exertion.

Kanda didn't know what to say to that.

"Anyway, weren't you sticking to her the whole of yesterday?" he asked after a pause. "What the fuck could I have done?"

He could see the gears in Lavi's head churning through his memories. "Sorry," the redhead murmured quietly. "I just…I'm sorry," he drew in a ragged breath, sighing heavily for a moment, and then looked at him. "Where were you anyway?"

Good question. What was he doing? His own memories were still kind of fuzzy and jumping around in his mind. He did remember playing the drinking game with them…after the rest of them went to the dance floor, he and Lavi drank some more, and that's when the memories started to blur. There was loud music and the feel of someone else's lips against his own. Oh damn, he made out with some random girl. He grimaced upon that thought.

A finger suddenly grazed the edge of his lip and he jerked back, scowling. Lavi scrutinized the pink substance on his finger.

"Lipstick," the redhead commented. "Looks like you were busy. Got a name? Or a number?"

"Shut up," the Japanese pushed Lavi away by the chest to give himself some space. "I can't remember who she was,"

Lavi shrugged for a second, then his tone went back to serious again. "Talk to her Yuu," he said grimly. "Do you think I haven't noticed anything, Yuu?" he nearly snorted at the confused expression on the model's face. "The way she avoids you, the way you're avoiding her—"

"I do not avoid her—"

"At least, you're not even making an effort to talk to her," Lavi carried on unbothered. "Today, Yuu. I want you to speak to her today. I don't _care_ if you don't want to," he insisted. "Can you promise me that?"

"I don't promise you anything," Kanda kicked Lavi for pinning him to the wall earlier, and Lavi stumbled backwards clutching his leg in pain.

"Ow—Yuu!" the redhead cried out indignantly, and his tone of voice went back to the annoying scale. "You could have just said 'no' like a normal person!" he whined.

"Whatever," Kanda brushed past him, inwardly sighing in relief that Lavi was back to normal. "I'm going to shower,"

"Right," Lavi let himself fall on Kanda's bed. "And Yuu?" he called, not that Kanda bothered to turn around. "I'm taking your bed now,"

"Wha—" The model whipped around, immediately finding Lavi knocked out on his bed, dead to the world. "I'll kick his ass later," he muttered, slamming his bathroom door open.

* * *

When Kanda came out of the shower he wasn't surprised to see that Lavi hadn't moved a single inch on his bed. Huh. He rummaged through his closet and took out a clean change of clothes, dressing quickly and toweling his hair to dry it. Unfortunately by experience a hairdryer was a much better option but he just didn't really like flicking his hair about while using the machine, so he left it down to dry naturally after giving up halfway. He was mildly irked at how his hair was still soaking through the back of his shirt though.

Trekking out of his room, he closed the door quietly and glanced at the room next to his, whose door was still closed. Reiichi went out or she was still in the room, he wasn't sure. In any case, he was hungry so he went to the kitchen. If you thought he was going to cook soba again, then it was a good guess but you were wrong. Thirty minutes later he was rolling onigiris and ate some while he worked. Three for Lavi when he woke up, two for Reiichi if she ever got out of her room—then he just wondered why he was making food for her when she kept ditching him for meals anyway.

A soft step caused him to swivel his head toward the kitchen door, and he caught sight of a flash of red hair that disappeared within a second. So she was trying to avoid him again, huh.

"Woman," he spoke up loudly, sure that she heard him. "I saw you. Where do you think you're going?"

There was silence.

"Get back here or I'll drag you out of your room," he threatened.

Reiichi padded back to the kitchen, frowning slightly and standing awkwardly at the doorway. "What do you want?" it came out harsher than she intended.

Kanda threw a kitchen towel at her. "Clean the counter," he ordered, scowling.

While she acceded to his command rather grudgingly, he washed the rice cooker and placed Lavi's portion into the fridge. She was waiting for him to finish when he shoved her food into her hand and pulled her towards the front door.

"Kanda!" she nearly stumbled from his sudden action, having no choice but to move her feet. "What are you doing? Let me go!"

He was strong, and she knew there was no way she could break out of his hold. Even if she did, he was still faster than her. He dragged her to the garage, and she was fighting him, trying to pry his fingers off her arm.

"Rei," he suddenly stopped to glare at her. "Either you walk, or I carry you over my shoulder. Which do you prefer?"

"I'll walk," she sighed, following after him reluctantly.

Kanda went to another car she hadn't had the chance to sit in before, this time, a _Maserati_ in dark inky blue. He pushed her in the passenger seat, sliding into the driver seat himself and locking the doors. Reiichi turned to him, looking slightly scared as she backed towards the car door as far as possible.

"W-what are you doing?"

He ignored her question, cocking an eyebrow at the food still in her hand. "Aren't you going to eat that?"

She looked in her hands, forgotten that he had given her some food. She relaxed slightly. "Um, thank you,"

She waited for him to say something in return but he just kept on looking at her.

"Well?" he demanded after a while. "Eat,"

How the heck could she eat while he stared at her? It was unnerving. He might be used to be people looking at him, but she wasn't. He might not feel intimidated or weird while people stared, but she was. It was worse because it was _him_ that was doing the staring. "Can you stop looking at me then?" she averted her eyes, wishing so hard that she wasn't really in a car with him now.

"I'm just making sure you actually eat," he responded. "Don't think I haven't noticed you barely eat nowadays,"

_That's because of you_, she wanted to retort, but of course she didn't. "But I can't eat when you look at me!"

"Fine," he crossed his arms and leaned back on the seat. "But we're not moving until you finish that,"

Reiichi really didn't know what was going on at all. Raising a rice ball to her mouth, she bit off a small piece reluctantly, chewing the rice. It tasted pretty good actually. Just enough salt for flavor, and the rice wasn't too wet. She didn't realize how hungry she really was till she was finishing the second rice ball, savouring the salmon meat. She hadn't eaten since yesterday night. She peeked at him once she was done and he turned on the ignition, brushing his hand over the steering wheel.

"So where are we going?" she had to ask, but as usual, he didn't answer her.

She hastily buckled the seat belt when Kanda floored the accelerator.

* * *

After about an hour of driving in silence, Kanda finally pulled up in an empty carpark along the beach. She remembered the place as the one she took a taxi to bring Kanda his lunch when he had the_ O Neil_ photoshoot. And yes, she remembered Lulubell, and not to mention the near death experience in the sea.

Kanda unbuckled his seat belt and she did likewise, expecting him to get out of the car but he remained seated. She tried to open the door but it was still locked.

"Can you tell me why we are here now?" she asked, confused.

"To talk," he answered, a finality ringing in his tone. The air conditioned was kept on, and it was the only thing in his car that remotely gave out a sound. "Why are you avoiding me?" he asked bluntly.

"But we can talk at home," she pretended he didn't ask the question she hoped she never would have to answer.

"And you would have ran out the door," he retorted.

Ouch, that sounded pretty pathetic.

"So, why are you avoiding me?" he demanded, gaze full force on her.

"I'm not avoiding—"

"Don't screw with me, Rei," his voice was harsh, frustrated, angry. "You and I both know that you haven't said a word to me in four days. Unless you suddenly lost your precious voice box, then you are avoiding me," he scowled even further when she didn't answer. "So?"

"Are you talking to me because Lavi shouted at you?" Reiichi asked quietly.

"How did you—"

"I heard you guys screaming," she said, lips pulled to a taunt line. "It was kind of loud,"

"Well, fuck, Rei," Kanda spat. "If you heard your cousin shouting then you should know much you are _hurting_ him,"

"I never meant to hurt him!" she shouted defensively. "I'll talk to Lavi myself, so can we go back now?"

"No," the Japanese stated bluntly. "And to answer your question, did you honestly think the usagi could make me do something I didn't want?"

"….Yes, actually," she said after a while.

Kanda rolled his eyes. "You were supposed to say _no_,"

"But what about that time when—"

"Fuck, stop changing the subject!" he sighed irritatably, running his fingers through his hair as a force of habit. "This is the _third_ time I am asking you this. Why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you now,"

"Rei," he growled, hands making marks on his steering wheel as he clenched his fists. "I'm being fucking _patient _with you," he hissed. He was on the edge of losing his temper and it wasn't helping at all. "So answer the goddamn question!"

Reiichi sighed and unbuckled her seatbelt, acknowledging that they weren't moving anywhere anytime soon, but she kept her mouth shut. She couldn't tell him. She just _couldn't._

"Will you say something already?" he glared, frustrated. "Look, is this about that fucking Noah and what I said to you?" he scrutinized how she stiffened. "Well, is it?"

"…Sort of," she conceded, because it was indeed that day that everything fell apart.

"Then.." Kanda rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily. "I…I didn't…" he grimaced like it pained him to talk. "I didn't mean it, okay?" he forced it out.

"I know you didn't," she murmured, gaze directed to her hands on her lap.

The model scowled. "If it's not that, then what is it?" he demanded, snarling. "What more do you want? My history with Lulubell? My childhood story?"

"No, I never said anything like that!" Reiichi shut her eyes exasperatedly. "I just…I just…" she sighed once. "Can we just drop it the subject?"

"No. We are not moving until you fucking tell me what's going on," he decided finally, leaning his head back unto the seat and sighing in irritation.

* * *

When you put two very stubborn people together, chances are that no progress would be made. After sitting idly in the car for nearly two hours, both of them were bored to death yet neither was willing to yield. It was quite ridiculous actually, but Reiichi was hell bent on keeping her secret and Kanda was hell bent on finding out.

"Kanda," Reiichi finally spoke his name softly, and it nearly jolted him because of the silence he was listening to for the past two hours. "Can we not talk about it?" she pleaded. "_Please_,"

She sounded pretty desperate, head lowered and hands gripping each other to stop trembling. She was scared she was going to lose their battle and end up having to face the consequences of confessing. He didn't like her in that way. What if he decided that she was just one of the many girls who adored him? What if he stopped caring?

"Look," his voice was uncharacteristically soft. "This involves _me_. I have the right to know,"

"Can you understand that I just can't tell you?" she pulled a hand over her face, trying to keep in her frustration.

"No, I can't," Kanda said blandly. "I _can't _understand why you have something that you can't say to me,"

"You won't understand, Kanda. You don't know how it's like to—" _like you._ "Can't you just give me some space to sort this out—"

"I've given you four days to sort it out and looks like nothing has changed," he cut her off sharply. "And what do you mean that I _won't understand_? I don't understand because you're not telling me anything!"

She groaned loudly. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because I fucking _do_, okay?" he raised his voice in case she didn't get the fucking point. "Do you know how fucking aggravating it is for you to ignore me? Do you know how goddamn irritating it is when you pretend I don't fucking exist?"

There was only the sound of his ragged breathing as he tried to catch his breath after his outburst.

"What if you…hate me?" she whispered finally.

Kanda stilled at the way she said it, for he had heard her speak in such a manner only once before, when she was crying when it stormed, because she was entirely _vulnerable_ now. "I won't, so just say it,"

"Kanda…" Reiichi began softly looking everywhere but at him. "Have you felt that whenever we're…alone," she forced herself to go on. "There's this…awkwardness?"

"Not really," he responded.

She had to scowl at that. So it was only her all along. Damn him. Damn him for making her like him. Ugh. "Not for you, maybe, but I feel it. And I don't like it,"

"And…?"

"And," she added, "That's why I was avoiding you,"

Kanda frowned. "I want the reason _why_," he pressed on. "You're not telling me anything that I don't already know. I know you started to act weird around me but I want to know _why_,"

He was really leaving her no choice. She really hated him. She really did.

"Because…" she swallowed thickly, fidgeting even harder as Kanda anticipated his answer.

"Rei, there is no point trying to buy your stupid time," he frowned when she left her words hanging. "We are staying here until you tell me,"

"Fine," she sighed heavily, preparing for the worst to come. "It's because I li—"

"Holy fuck," Kanda cursed, eyes widening when he saw something big and made out of metal a meter away from the back of his car, and he lunged forwards to press Reiichi into his chest, wrapping an arm around her front while the other arm gripped the back of her seat to prevent them from flying as that whatever it was crashed into them, sending the car flying front.

Reiichi didn't even know if she had screamed or not, but the sudden jerk of the car violently forward was too unexpected. All she could hear was some loud screeches and the sick sound of metal twisting before she was slammed back against the seat again and the car stopped moving. She didn't even know she had closed her eyes until she opened them cautiously once she felt everything standing still. She felt fabric first, which she figured to be Kanda's shirt and she raised her head, coming face to face with his neck.

"Kanda..?" she tried to call him, but there was no response. "Kanda!"

Slowly she pushed him back a bit, but she felt his head fall unto her shoulder. She lifted it slowly, blood going cold when she saw a trickle of blood flowing from the right side of his forehead. It was then that she suddenly took in her surroundings. The windscreen was shattered, and broken pieces of glass were littered about the headboard, over her legs and on Kanda. From the hole in the glass she could see that the front portion of the car was totally ruined, for it had crashed into one of the lampposts in the carpark. The back was even worse where some other vehicle had crashed into them, and she realized sickly that if the crash had dug in a few more inches, they would have been crushed.

"Kanda…" she shook him lightly, hoping that he was at least conscious. "Shit, shit, shit," she started to panic, hands quickly trying to upright him even as he fell limp on her. "Oh my god, shit," she stared at one of her hands that was covered in blood after pulling his left arm away from behind her seat.

A sudden screech of tires caught her attention as the vehicle that had crashed into the back of their car reversed out. She froze when she realized it was a _truck _that had slammed into them, and then noticed that the truck had tinted windows and no number plate. She could do nothing as the truck sped off like nothing had happened, away into the highway.

She breathed frantically trying to think of the next best course of action. Bring Kanda out, right. He needed to go to the hospital. She kicked her door open she stumbled around to the driver's side. With much difficulty she managed to pry an opening out of the wreckage, grabbing his waist and trying to pull him out.

Only thing was that she didn't count on more blood seeping through her fingers.

* * *

"Bookman-san! Do you have anything to say regarding Kanda-san's road accident—"

"—is Kanda-san in any life threatening position—"

"—will the accident affect Kanda-san's work—"

"—Bookman-san, are you—"

"—About Kuroshi-san—"

Lavi pushed past the hordes of people gathered outside the hospital, trying to make his way in. He had gotten the shock of his life when the hospital had called him and woke him up in the middle of his sleep on Kanda's bed, and he rushed over immediately with a taxi. It seemed like news of the accident had travelled too fast—the paparazzi had already gotten wind of it and there was no chance of playing the incident down as much as possible.

"I would appreciate it if you gave us some privacy," he turned to one insistent reporter that was nearly pulling his shirt off, roughly diving through the sliding doors and sighing in relief when he stepped into the air conditioned building. Thank god for hospital rules, he nearly sobbed, for the paparazzi were stuck outside still waving at him frantically and he could only hear their muffled voices across the closed doors.

"Right, room 202," he chanted to himself, running up the stairs because the lifts were always too slow.

"Rei-chan!" he finally swung the door open, sighing in relief when he spotted his cousin sitting on a chair. "You're okay!"

"Lavi!" She got up and ran towards him, arms immediately going around his neck. "Lavi! I was so scared! I was…" she choked as she hugged him tighter. "He was bleeding so much and I thought...I thought…" she couldn't go on, pressing her face into his shoulder while he rubbed circles on her back.

"Calm down," he coaxed gently, eyeing Kanda's condition on the hospital bed. He grimaced at the number of bandages on his friend, but luckily his face was still untouched. "Yuu's fine, right? Look, he's still breathing. He won't go anywhere," he chuckled. "Not that he can,"

"That was a bad joke," she punched him lightly in the stomach, but she was smiling slightly midst her worried expression.

Lavi guided her back to the chair she was sitting on, and he pulled another chair next to her.

"So, what did the doctor say?" he trained his gaze on Kanda, hands brushing the fully bandaged arm worriedly.

"He fractured his left arm with some abrasions," Reiichi said grimly. "He has a bruise on his head where he got knocked out and he has a…" she winced, "_Hole _in his side…"

"Hole?"

"Looks like something pierced him there, I'm not sure," she bit her lip, frowning. "There was just so much blood and he won't stop_ bleeding_ and I tried to—"

"Rei-chan," Lavi grasped her hand to keep her from trembling. "Yuu's okay. He's okay now. The doctor said it wasn't life threatening right?"

"Yeah,"

"Good," Lavi let out a breath he had been holding in anticipating for the safety of Kanda. "Man, I was scared_ shitless_ when the hospital called me," he exaggerated a sigh, leaning back on the chair. "I thought you and him were in some kind of bad shape but then we're not in the ICU, so I figured it couldn't be that bad, though I'm still hoping he doesn't get any scars or shit like that," he rambled, happy to get it all off his chest. "Say," he paused suddenly. "What were you guys doing anyway?"

"Talking," she responded.

"In a car?" Lavi raised an eyebrow. Wow he didn't really expect Kanda to have talked to her today, and to do it in a car?

In a car?

They, like,_ lived_ together. Why a car?

"That's what _I _thought," she commented.

"How did it go?"

"We didn't really finish since some truck ran into us…" she trailed off, suddenly remembering the weird vehicle. There wasn't anything useful that she told the police, since all trucks were made out of metal.

"Did you say truck?" Lavi repeated disbelievingly. "A _truck_? I thought you guys had an accident somewhere on the highway or something, with another car!"

"We were at the carpark at the beach," Reiichi explained. "Then this truck crashed into us from the back. The thing is, I couldn't see who was in it because the windows were tinted…and there was no number plate,"

"What?" her cousin frowned, face grim. "Rei-chan, this was…this was no accident," he concluded finally. "Someone did this on purpose,"

"You can't be so sure," she was starting to get a little freaked out. "Who would have known we were at the carpark? The entire place was empty,"

"I_ do_ have some suspects—"

"The Noah," Reiichi said suddenly.

"Yeah, them—wait, since when did you ever suspect them of something?" he blinked at her. "Aren't Debitto and Jasdevi like your boy toys—"

"Quit calling them that," she chided, irritated. "I believe not the entire family is bad, just…some questionable ones," she admitted. "I met Matsumoto yesterday, and—"

"You didn't tell me this!"

"I _forgot_," Reiichi sighed, remembering that she had one more thing to clear up with her cousin, but the Matsumoto issue came first. "Anyway, the Noah is controlling Matsumoto Corp from behind the scenes. Akira-san—Matsumoto's uh, bodyguard, told me this specifically. Apparently they do have the video record of _my time in the bathroom_," she grimaced upon the memory, "and they used it to threaten Matsumoto,"

"They were _lying_—those bastards!" Lavi hissed. "They play so dirty that it makes me sick," he shuddered in disgust. "Whatever. I'll find out whether today was another one of their ploys or not,"

"Will they do it again?" Reiichi asked worriedly. "Because Kanda drives all the time and—"

"Hey, hey, hey," Lavi patted her consolingly. "I don't think they'll try anything as along as other people are watching. I'll tell Yuu to keep clear of isolated and empty places, so don't fret," he paused suddenly. "You're kind of worrying for Yuu a lot, you know," he commented, and she looked away quietly. "Why are you looking so guilty?" he frowned at the lack of retort he had anticipated. "This is _not_ your fault, Rei-chan. You know that,"

"But Kanda getting hurt is…" she muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"He…protected me," Reiichi stared at her hands, remembering blood on it. His blood. "Kanda shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't have,"

"Don't," Lavi hugged her tightly, words slightly muffled as he buried his face into her hair. "Don't ever say that, Rei-chan. I can't ever lose you. Not ever. So never say that again,"

"But I—you can't lose Kanda either," she murmured gripping him back tight.

"No, I can't," he agreed, pulling back a bit. "But the man is too proud to die. He's like, a _cockroach_, except, well, prettier, I guess,"

"Kanda said the same thing once about you," she smiled a bit. "And Lavi…I'm sorry,"

"About?"

"I heard you shouting at Kanda this morning,"

"Oh,"

"I'm sorry you guys had to fight. It's not Kanda's fault," Reiichi sighed.

"It's fine," Lavi said after a while. "I won't ask any further, but just sort it out with him, okay?" he smiled gently.

"Yeah, I will,"

* * *

When Kanda regained conscious, he would have found it pretty ironic that he was waking up to a headache twice in a row, only that it actually hurt to think. He cracked an eye open wearily, noting that all he saw was a dull blue. It was easy to adjust his vision, and soon he was gazing up blankly.

"Yuu-chan," A voice whispered softly next to him, and fingers prodded his chest. "You're awake now?"

Kanda grunted because his throat felt kind of dry. Slowly he could feel his body lying on the bed, his pounding head, the sharp pain in his side and left arm. Damn. He realized he was in the hospital after looking about, and it was already late evening, and the lights in the room were off.

"You want to sit up?" Lavi asked quietly from his side, fumbling with some remote and pressing a button.

The top portion of his bed moved forwards, and soon he was more or less upright. He scanned the room he was in. Single room, pretty big. Lavi had been sitting on a chair, and next to him Reiichi was sleeping on the chair that had been pulled out to become a makeshift bed. Lavi pressed a glass of water into his hands and he drank it, cool liquid soothing his throat.

"She's alright?" was the first thing he asked, glancing at Reiichi.

"Aside from a few bruises on her legs, she's fine," Lavi smiled, setting the glass down on the table. He turned back to his friend and wrapped his arms around the other's neck, hugging him tight. Kanda choked a little underneath the pressure, but found no strength to push him away.

"Thank you, Yuu," the redhead murmured into his ear. "Thank you so much,"

"What for?" Kanda tried to jerk back but obviously failed because he couldn't move backwards.

"Rei-chan told me about it," his friend was saying. "About how you protected her and got hurt instead. Thank you so much,"

"We both would've gotten hurt anyway," Kanda retorted. "It was merely decreasing the number of casualties by one,"

That's what he said, but inwardly he was a little freaked out by himself as he remembered how much he panicked for Reiichi when he saw the stupid vehicle behind them. He didn't really think much to shield her, or actually thought that it might have worked, considering the size of the impact. Since when did he have a martyr complex? Or was it only for Reiichi?

"Don't be shy, Yuu," Lavi hugged him even tighter. "Although Rei-chan would love your tsundere-ness,"

"Whatever,"

"Hmm?" the redhead pulled back, tilting his head at him. "Not going to threaten me? Or hit me?"

"You sound like a masochist when you put it like that," Kanda blanched, using his right arm to increase the distance between them both.

"Only for you," Lavi snickered. "Only for you,"

Lavi settled back into his chair, pulling it closer so that they could talk with lower volumes. "How are you feeling there, buddy?"

"I feel like crap," Kanda responded, cocking an eyebrow at his bandaged arm. "How long will that take to heal?"

"A month or so," Lavi nodded sympathetically. "Well that bruise on your forehead should be gone by the next week days, but your arm. Well, the doctor said you fractured it so you're gonna need a cast—"

"Oh hell no," Kanda shook his head violently. "I'm not getting a damn cast!"

"What's so bad about getting a cast?"

"People like you will write stupid embarrassing shit on it!"

"Then all the more you should get one!" Lavi beamed. "I'll declare my love for you—wait no, I'll declare Rei-chan's love for you on it. How about it? Yes? Yes?"

"How about _no_," Kanda rolled his eyes. Honestly, was he an idiot?

"Huh, talk about denial," Lavi muttered, grinning inwardly that Kanda wasn't in the shape to attack him now. "Anyway, you have no say in the matter, my good friend. If you don't get a cast, you won't heal. Simple as that,"

Kanda scowled. "You better not touch me," he threatened.

The redhead hummed it away. "Anyway back to your injuries, there's also this hole in your side—"

"No wonder it fucking hurts there,"

"—eh yeah, and I think you got stitches for that," Lavi frowned. "Not sure how big your scar is going to be though,"

"I won't scar," Kanda shrugged, confident.

"Everyone scars, Yuu," Lavi raised an eyebrow. "You might be invincible or something, but you know scarring is no exception to anyone,"

"Don't put me in the same level as you," the model snorted. "I've taken Kendo for years now, sparring with Mugen, or have you _forgotten_?"

"Don't be such an ass, Yuu," Lavi huffed. "I'm just worried,"

"A needless worry,"

The redhead pouted, because whenever he tried to show concern or something like that, he was always put down. Today was no exception, even though it was a car crash and he could've like, _died_.

"Huh. Moving on," Lavi continued. "Rei-chan told me you guys had a good talk, albeit unfinished,"

Kanda closed his eyes for a moment trying to remember what exactly occurred before he landed in hospital. "Fuck," he cursed. "She was going to tell me the important thing when that stupid truck slammed into my goddamn car! What the fuck was up with that truck?"

"About the truck, I'll settle that for you, but ha! What epic timing!" Lavi snickered.

"Shut up! Do you have any idea how long it took me to convince her?" the model demanded, indignant.

"Duh, Yuu," the photographer gave a pronounced eye roll . "She's like, my _cousin_,"

"Two fucking hours! She didn't talk for two damn hours!" Kanda ranted on. "Shit, I don't think I can do it again,"

Lavi looked unimpressed. "Hey, you want to compare? She didn't talk to me for five hours. _Five._ You were there, smartass,"

"Sucks to be you then," the model snorted.

"It's awesome to be me," the redhead sniffed. "In any case, although you guys didn't finish talking, Rei-chan seems back to normal now," he glanced at his sleeping cousin. "She was really worried for you, you know? I had to force her to sleep or else she'd never leave your bed side,"

"You didn't promise to wake up her when I did or some shit like that, did you?"

"Actually yeah, I kind of did," Lavi gave a wry smile. "But hey, I'm going to pretend that you never woke up,"

"You are such a bastard," Kanda commented.

* * *

After talking a while more, Lavi went back to sleep on his chair, and presumably, Kanda was supposed to rest till tomorrow morning. Except this is Kanda we're talking about and he got really sick of just lying in bed doing nothing, considering he had already been lying on it for the past few hours—so he was attempting to get himself off the bed and walk around for a bit.

Luckily his legs were fine and all, but the problem began when he was trying to sit up properly because the gash in his side just made it painful to lean any weight on it. Moreover his left arm was practically useless to aid him in the quest to leave his bed, and he had spent quite a long while before he was successfully able to dangle his legs over the bed. All that was left was to slip off the bed and—

"Kanda?"

He froze and looked up, seeing Reiichi sitting up awake on her makeshift bed staring.

Reiichi just stared disbelieving, getting up from her place and stumbling over to his side. "You're awake!" A slow smile started to spread on her face, and she lunged forwards and hugged him on impulse. The feel of his warm functioning body felt so much reassuring than his blood that collected on her hands a few hours ago. "Thank god,"

"Che, yeah, I wasn't about to _die _or anything stupid like that," Kanda muttered, heat rising to his face as unsure of what to do with her hugging him.

"How are you feeling?" she pulled back a bit to scrutinize his face, and then at the gauze on his forehead.

"It damn hurts, what do you expect?" he motioned to his bandaged arm, cursing again when he tried to move it.

"Sorry, stupid question," she grinned sheepishly.

"Rei, you're—" it wasn't his own imagination that his breath actually hitched when he realized how close her face was to him. "—still hugging me,"

"Oh," she retracted her arms quickly, blushing hard, but it was hard to see amidst the darkness. She stepped back a little. "Sorry. I was just so relieved that you're okay now," she fidgeted on her spot. "Are you thirsty? Or are you hungry? I can get you food if you want—"

"No, I just want to get out of here," he made to step on the ground but Reiichi rushed forwards to hold him back.

"But you can't! You're injured!"

"I'm not crippled," he deadpanned, swatting her hand away. "Just let me walk around for a bit,"

Reiichi relented seeing that he was so dead set on getting up, so she held him up as he touched the floor, hissing when his side flamed with pain.

"Take it easy there," she warned, shifting his right arm around her shoulder to stabilize him. He was actually kind of heavy, dear god. "So, where did you plan to go?"

Kanda nudged in the direction of the window, and he more or less made there without her help after customizing to the pain. The streets were pretty empty, and actually it wasn't all that surprising when he glanced at the clock on the wall. It was 2 56 a.m. Beside him, Reiichi stifled a yawn.

"What were you going to say?" Kanda asked.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Reiichi blinked, surprised at the sudden question.

"I meant back in the car," he supplied. "Before we crashed,"

"Oh," she turned to look out the window, starting to blush. "I…I'll tell you when Lavi isn't here,"

"Rei," he groaned, frustrated. "Do I really have to lock you in a car again? Do I really have to suffer another car accident again?"

"No! I didn't mean it like that," she quickly protested. "I will tell you. I promise," she glanced suspiciously at the back of Lavi's sleeping head. "Just not when there's a possibility of him listening,"

"What's so bad that your cousin can't know?" Kanda was pretty curious at that.

"You'll understand when I tell you," she decided finally.

Kanda raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. In any case, he was going to get what he had set out for, so that was fine by him. Anyway she didn't seem to be avoiding him anymore and they were more or less back to normal. Maybe. She kept fidgeting next to him though, but it seemed like she was trying to not run away. That was good.

"Kanda…" she began again after a while. "About your injuries…I'm so sorry about them," she touched his bandaged arm softly. "But…" her own heart beat thundered loudly and she didn't really care if he could see her blushing. Meeting his eyes determinedly, she tip toed and kissed him lightly on the cheek, lips trembling when she released him lightly. "Thank you," she smiled bashfully, turning away in embarrassment a second later.

Her face continued to heat as she stared out the window, trying to calm down. She had promised herself to stop trying to run away, so she willed herself to stay and act like it was okay, but it was entirely not! She wanted to dig a hole a die, especially since Kanda hadn't made a sound since she…did that.

What if he didn't want it? The other time was purely on impulse too. What if—

"It's fine," Kanda managed after a while, swallowing a bit as he too, looked out the window quietly.

"Woah, Yuu!"

A crash behind them caused them to jump apart in shock, Reiichi flushing rather visibly with no help thanks to the moonlight, and Kanda let out a string of curses when he accidently put too much pressure on his side. Lavi was staggered back holding his toppled chair, jaw slack and eyes widened in disbelief.

"Y-you-You're smiling!" he lifted a trembling finger and pointed it at Kanda who stared back with equal shock. "Oh my god—you're actually smiling! _Holy shit_," Lavi wanted to scream, except they were in a hospital. "It's Armageddon; the Malayan calendar has got it wrong because the end of the world is today, my friends! Yuu is smiling!"

"Shut up!" Kanda hissed, trying to make his point that he wasn't actually smiling, because he was certainly too much in_ pain_ to smile. "I don't smile!"

"Yes you totally did, you did, you did, you did!" Lavi obviously was not listening to him as the other bounced happily over, slinging an arm around Reiichi who just blushed even harder. "Rei-chan, kiss him again!"

"No!" she exclaimed, horrified that he was watching them all along. "You were supposed to be asleep!"

"There's nothing to be shy about," Lavi muttered, rubbing his arm as she slapped him there. "Unless you were thinking it was _more_ than just a thank you kiss—"

"I wasn't!" she made to whack him again, but she was blushing so hard that he actually_ laughed _at her.

"Aww, you're so cute!" Lavi squeezed her tightly, ruffling up her hair and turned to grin at Kanda. "Now Yuu, you're smiling again!"

Reiichi stopped struggling in her cousin's hold to peer at Kanda, because she was too busy being freaked out when Lavi had startled them both. Indeed, it really wasn't really a _smile_ per say, but the corners of the model's lips were twitched up just ever so slightly and he certainly looked well, _happier_, than usual. Which was saying something, because Kanda never looked happy. The "smile" was wiped off immediately and replaced by a scowl she knew so well.

"I wasn't smiling, dammit!" Kanda tried to aim at Lavi, but the redhead dodged easily.

"Denial isn't just a river in Eygpt, Yuu!" Lavi beamed.

"I'm not in fucking denial!" the model roared, eager to grab his hands on the other. "Stop moving—I want to kill you!"

"Yuu, you need to look in the mirror right now!" the photographer almost squealed with joy. "You're blushing and it's so so so so so so _so_ cute—"

If Kanda wasn't really blushing in the first place, he was certainly now. "Shut the hell up! And get back here!"

Lavi grinned and danced away. "Now are you sure deeeeeppppp in your heart you don't secretly_ lurve_ Rei-chan—OW THAT HURTS!"

* * *

**Owari.**

This chapter feels a bit…short? Rushed? IDK. I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO ADD ANYMORE ;_;

Well, things between them will be better soon I promise :D


	30. Chapter 29

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

"Lulu, you're beautiful with blonde hair but sometimes you've got to remember that _you're not actually blonde_," Sheryl Kamelot tsked, tapping his fingers impatiently on the Victorian table beside him with a strained smile.

"Well _dearest_ brother," she retorted back with just as much sarcasm, "I see no flaw in how I completed the task set out for me, unlike my other dearest brother,"

"Hey," Tyki flicked his cigarette at her from his position on the couch, attention still on the television. "It turned out for the best in the end, didn't it?"

"After _I_ salvaged the situation," Sheryl sighed. "Why do I exist with such _fools_—"

"Your brain capacity shrinks just by being directly related to them, Sherry," Wisely quipped, also watching the television.

"Stop calling me that god forsaken nickname!" Sherry—Sheryl—snapped, turning to glare at his somehow related relative. The irony of it all. "Wise-ass," he muttered, just for payback.

"Peace, dude, peace," Wisely flipped him the finger, still engrossed in the show.

What were they watching? BBC?

Lulubell sniffed indignantly, sipping her tea. "You're just bitching, Sheryl. MCP?" she asked dryly. "Oh wait, in your case, it's PMS, my bad,"

"The thing is," Sheryl began tersely, ignoring the snicker that Tyki and Wisely let out at her comment. "You were brilliant. You were so_ brilliant _that they probably have no idea who hit them, and I mean it literally," he counted off his fingers, looking unimpressed. "No witnesses, no number plate, no clue, no evidence?"

"Isn't that the point?" Tyki couldn't help but butt in. "If we're linked to that shit, we're basically screwed,"

"Subtly," Sheryl stated, rubbing the bridge of his nose exasperatedly, "Is something all of you lack. Of course the public can't know about it, _doy_," he rolled his eyes at how the rest of them were rolling their eyes at him. Hey, he could still use slang. He wasn't that old. "But if Kanda Yuu and Lavi Bookman don't get the hint that we're giving them, then it was just another car accident,"

"But it _is_ another car accident," Wisely pointed at the screen. "Look, it's the report on recent road accidents,"

Indeed, Tyki and Wisely were watching the news.

"The press and the fans are gathered outside the hospital in anticipation of top model Kanda Yuu's release," the reporter intoned, gesturing at the scary amount of people gathered. "It was only yesterday that he suffered a car accident that nearly claimed his life—"

"Dramatic much?" Wisely snorted.

"Well, he _could_ have died," Tyki shrugged.

"Kuroshi Reiichi was also rumored to be with Kanda Yuu at the time of the crash—"

"_Reiichi _was there?" Tyki looked taken aback. "I thought she was supposed to stay out of this!"

"Why are you so concerned?" Lulubell gave him a cool gaze. "You sound like you have a_ crush _on the girl,"

"_She_ has a crush on me," Tyki sniffed at how everyone else not so discreetly coughed.

"Anyway, _if you noticed_, they even left out the fact that something had hit Kanda Yuu's car all together. They're just saying he got into a car accident," Sheryl emphasized.

"Well, it sounds kind of incompetent on the government if there was an unregistered truck running around smashing people," Wisely pointed out.

"What do you propose we do now, then?" Lulu crossed her arms, frowning.

"Fortunately, I have more faith in Bookman than in all of you," Sheryl remarked. "No doubt Bookman would be suspecting something, and he'll dig deeper. But of course, he won't find anything, thanks to you,"

"Then use the chance to leak something purposefully," she stated.

"No, we keep him guessing," Sheryl disagreed as Lulubell resisted the urge to smash her tea cup at him. "He's likely to suspect us more that way,"

"So you're admitting that what I did was perfect," she glared at him. "You are _such_ a bitch, Sheryl,"

* * *

Monday morning felt like a rushed affair. Kanda was demanding that he'd be released from the hospital since he was alive and kicking, literally, he kicked Lavi for good measure a few times. He was supposed to stay for observation, just in case, but of course he would never listen. The bed felt too foreign, the walls were too bare (oh wait, so was his) and the particular smell of the hospital just made him feel sick.

He wanted to go home.

That is, after he got his cast set. Lavi immediately started snickering when the plaster was poured and Kanda grimaced at the cool feeling that enveloped his lower arm. Sticky. White. The smell. Urgh.

"Just wondering," Reiichi asked suddenly. "What if it itches in the cast?"

"That's too bad then," The doctor shrugged nonchalantly.

Lavi whipped out a marker from god knows where, and stood with much anticipation behind Kanda while the model growled. "Get the fuck away from me, usagi,"

The male redhead merely grinned even wider.

Once the cast had been set, Lavi would have lunged and made his mark on the brand new cast, but he found that someone was gripping his shirt. He looked back and pouted at the look Reiichi was giving him. "Don't bully the injured, Lavi,"

"Why are you defending him?" he whined, trying to make her lose her grip. "Don't you want to deface it too?"

"Uh_, no_,"

"But you can write mushy stuff on it!" Lavi was insistent. "Like, _K + R forever_ in a bigggg heart shape—"

Reiichi raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "You do know that could stand for Kanda and _Rabi _forever right?"

Her cousin merely blinked. "But we _are _forever!"

"No we're not," Kanda scowled, willing for the doctor who had disappeared after his cast was set to come back.

Lavi stuck a tongue out at him. "So mean! Or you could write _Kanchi rabu rabu_—"

"What the fuck is _Kanchi_?"

"It's yours and Rei-chan's name put together!" The male redhead beamed. "Isn't it so awesome? It's like a _pairing name_, like those in fandoms. Am I a genius? Or am I a genius?"

"You're a moron," Kanda rolled his eyes. "What the fuck,"

"How about _Yuuchi_, then? Or _Reida_—wait no, Yuu's name must come first—"

"How about nothing," Reiichi jerked the back of his shirt harder, almost causing him to fail ungracefully to the ground. "Why do you even think of such weird things?"

"Because," Lavi stated like it was so obvious. "That'll get Yuu all embarrassed and _cute_—"

"Shut the hell up—"

"—and you love him when he's cute~"

"I do not!" Reiichi denied, blushing a bit. Just because of that one time in the orphanage, she was never living this down.

The doctor came back into the room with a dark blue cloth in his hands, cutting off their lovely conversation. He gestured Kanda to stand up. "Kanda-san, this sling will help to ease the pressure on your arm—"

"No, I don't want it,"

"But Kanda-san—"

"I don't want it," Kanda insisted. "I can't move my arm if I wear that,"

"The point is to _not_ move your arm, Yuu," Lavi pointed out. "Save the old man trouble and just take it,"

The doctor shifted indignantly at the 'old man' comment, for he was only 50! He wasn't old.

"But I don't want to wear it,"

Reiichi frowned. "Sensei, I'll take the sling," she collected it from the doctor who looked relieved that his part in treating Kanda was over. One step was actually having the sling. She could force Kanda to wear it later.

* * *

Because Lavi didn't have a driver's license, Kanda's car was kind of in a wreck and Reiichi couldn't drive either, Lenalee volunteered Komui to send them all home. The reason why they couldn't take a taxi was because the entire entrance of the hospital was swamped with reporters who had gotten wind of the car accident. If they went outside, it was practically suicide. They needed backup, and backup came from _Innocence_ headquarters—a bunch of bodyguards and Komui.

"Kanda-kun!" Lenalee smiled brightly when she spotted her childhood friend sitting with the cousins near the entrance. Without much thought she hugged him tightly, nearly clambering onto him when she embraced him. "I'm so glad you're alright! Allen sends his well wishes,"

"Lenalee—" he hissed when her knee came into contact with his sore spot on his side. "Ow, fuck."

"Sorry," the female model retracted quickly, smiling sheepishly. "I had to confirm it with my own eyes. Lavi isn't a very trusted conveyer of messages," she continued. "I thought he was being serious about it all and then you know what he said? He actually said you _smiled_!"

"Hey," Lavi whined. "I am serious about that!"

"I wasn't smiling, retard," Kanda denied, glaring at Lavi. "It's his overactive imagination—"

"No it wasn't! You were totally looking at Rei-chan and smiling right after she kissed you—"

"WHAT?" Lenalee turned to Reiichi who was trying very hard to be left out in the conversation. "You did? Oh Reiichi—"

"I'm heading to the restroom," Reiichi grabbed Lenalee and quickly pulled her a safe distance away from the other two. "Lenalee," she began, but was cut off again.

"I'm so excited for you!" The Chinese went on, eyes sparkling, almost jumping in joy. "You guys can go on dates at the movies, at the amusement park, at the—"

"Lenalee, Kanda doesn't like me that way," Reiichi stated flatly.

"Huh? But Lavi said you kissed him—"

"On the cheek, Lenalee," she looked away, trying not to blush at the memory. "Him getting injured was my fault, so…"

"It's not," Lenalee immediately told her firmly. "It's Kanda-kun's choice to do what he did. Anyway, if Kanda-kun was smiling—oh my gosh—"

"I wouldn't have counted that as a smile," Reiichi snorted.

"That's a miracle by itself, Reiichi," Lenalee went back to excited mode again. "I can't believe it! Kanda-kun really really likes you!"

"What? No!" Reiichi averted her eyes, cheeks stained pink. She did want him to like her back, but the possibility of that happening…"That day in the club," she started off reluctantly, "I saw Kanda kissing another girl, Lenalee. I don't think—"

"Was that why you disappeared suddenly?" Lenalee peered at her, linking their hands together.

She nodded slowly, sighing as she remembered the incident. She had forcefully pushed them out of her mind since that day, but it was all coming back again. She allowed an expression of disgust pass her features before she blanked it, trying to clear her mind in the process. Why was it that girl? Why couldn't it be her?

"Right, it seems like our bodyguards have cleared the path and nii-san is handling the reporters," Lenalee announced, looking at the glass doors of the entrance. "Lavi, you take Reiichi to the car. You can get the keys from nii-san. I need to talk to Kanda-kun about something,"

Reiichi turned to her with horrified eyes. "Lenalee, don't—"

"It's not about that," Lenalee winked at her, shooing Lavi and Reiichi away.

Lavi pouted for being left out, but slung an arm over his cousin's shoulder as they made way towards the entrance. Wow, they could actually see a path that they could walk through. Once the other two were out of earshot, Lenalee sat beside Kanda who looked at her impatiently.

"What do you want?"

She flicked his forehead. "Still as rude as ever,"

"Did you really expect anything else?"

Lenalee huffed. "You're always so polite when you talk to Reiichi,"

"Bull," Kanda immediately retorted. "I'm never polite,"

"Not your words," she explained. "But your _tone_,"

Kanda scowled. "Look, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Lenalee chuckled at his lack of retort and settled into a comfortable position, smiling sweetly. "How are you feeling?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that goddamn question?" Kanda demanded. "Try cutting yourself and see how it bleeds, maybe you'll get the answer,"

"It's a just sign of concern, Kanda-kun," Lenalee tutted. "Anyway since you seem well and dandy, I'll go straight to the point. I want to ask if Allen gave you that magazine to read,"

"What magazine?" Kanda eyed her suspiciously.

"The pink one," she supplied. "Allen was supposed to get back to me but he didn't, so I'm assuming you threatened him or something," she frowned at the blank look on his face. "The _ten signs that you're in love_—"

Kanda sat up so fast he had to wince at the sudden pressure on his wound. "You? You were behind that?" he snarled disbelievingly. "You planned it? Fuck—"

"So you did!" Lenalee punched her fist in glee.

"Why the fuck did you give me to read that stupid shit?" he demanded angrily, remembering the embarrassment he had suffered under the Moyashi. Oh yeah, he was still not done with his revenge.

"Because you're so thick, sometimes," she replied easily, unable to keep her grin from stretching wider. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well did you realize that you're in love with Reiichi?"

"I'm not in love with her!" he hissed, denying it immediately.

"Oh you are!" Lenalee couldn't help the squeal that escaped her mouth.

It was simply amazing, because throughout all the years she had known Kanda she hadn't really seen him be flustered about anything, until today. It was quite the adorable picture really, because Kanda was trying to scowl but he was too busy panicking like someone found out his deepest and darkest secret. His eyes were averting to anywhere but her, and she could see the tell tale signs of a blush arising.

"Look," she whipped out her pocket mirror and shoved it in his face, almost laughing when Kanda's eyes widened further at his own expression and blushed even harder.

"What the fuck!" Kanda exclaimed, face red. "Fuck, woman!"

"Lower your volume, Kanda-kun, or everyone will find out that you like Reiichi," Lenalee warned teasingly, quite amused.

"I don't," Kanda shut his eyes exasperatedly, breathing heavily, trying to control his embarrassment. "Just, leave me alone," he muttered finally.

Damn. If only the Moyashi hadn't actually talked him through the many reasons and evidences why he was _supposedly_ in love with Reiichi he would never he reacting this way. Another reason to fry the beansprout alive. Perhaps with some garlic and soya sauce.

"So, how did you feel when she kissed you on the cheek?" Lenalee couldn't help but add in, laughing with delight when she witnessed for her own self the way Kanda's eyes glinted in a way that proved he was remembering every moment of it and how his lips were twitching just ever so slightly…

"Fucking stop it, woman," he hissed, face flushing again just when he thought she was done teasing him.

Lenalee merely beamed at him, happy. "Okay, I'll stop," she agreed, "But only if you let me write on your cast,"

"Oh hell no," Kanda shook his head wildly, hugging his left arm close to his chest in a protective measure. "You are not going to write some cheesy mushy disgusting crap—"

"I just want to write a get well message, Kanda-kun," Lenalee frowned. "Stop being so paranoid. I'm not Lavi,"

Kanda refused to budge.

"HEY!" Lenalee suddenly stood up and shouted, causing the few people sitting around the lobby of the hospital to turn to her. "KANDA YUU IS IN LOVE WITH—"

"BITCH!" Kanda pulled her down roughly, glaring with murderous intent. "What the fuck are you trying to pull?"

"Arm please?" Lenalee smiled innocently at him.

Kanda scowled, shoving his cast at her. Lenalee was dangerous, because she dared to do anything. And now other people in the hospital were still staring at them both, but he glared at all of them and they looked away, pretending that nothing like Lenalee's random shout had occurred a few seconds ago.

"There, done," Lenalee patted his cast, capping her marker.

He glanced at it.

_Rei,_

_If I know what love is, it's because of you._

"What the—what the fuck! Goddamn it, Lenalee!" he hissed, trying to rub off her printed words but of course to no avail. "Why did you fucking write that?"

"That was for not trusting me from the start," she stuck her tongue out at him, pulling him to his feet. "Hush," she waved him off when he was about to go on another angry rant. "We've taken too much time now,"

"And whose damned fault is that?" Kanda retorted, feeling sour. He was still trying to get the damn words off.

Lenalee ignored him, directing them both towards the entrance where they spotted Komui, Lavi and Reiichi waiting for them in a silver car. "Stop blushing, Kanda-kun, or the media will have a field day about us two," she nudged him just as they were about to step out of the hospital.

"I'm not fucking blushing," he retorted.

The noise of his admirers and reporters nearly killed his ears the moment the glass doors of the hospital opened to allow them both to exit. The path that the body guard had made way for them immediately became smaller and everyone lunged forward the moment they stepped out. Quickly they made their way ignoring everyone else through the small pathway (parting of the red sea haha), and Kanda was safe once he was seated at the back with the two cousins, and Lenalee scrambled to the front.

"What were you doing with my precious sister, Kanda-kun?" Komui immediately turned on him, a threatening tone low to his voice.

"I was just asking him about the accident, nii-san," Lenalee tapped her brother's head, "Can we please go now?" she asked, feeling a little creeped out as reporters practically plastered themselves to their car's window screen.

"Oh look, that girl is wearing a shirt that says she's your number one fan, Yuu," Lavi had to comment, waving cheerfully to the mass of people outside. "Only I've seen a million of other girls wearing that already,"

"Whatever," Kanda snorted. "Komui, I don't want your fucking sister—"

Komui never looked so offended in his life. "Why I—"

"—so step on it," the Japanese growled. "Now,"

The CEO muttered something about rude and ungrateful kids and how Lenalee was obviously too good a match for him (he didn't really care) but conceded to his request and nearly ran over a few clingy reporters. Soon, they out drove most of the people who had thought it would be a good idea to chase them on foot.

"Rei-chan, you alright there?" Lavi asked, patting her back.

"I think I just about _died_," Reiichi muttered back. "Why did you think it was a good idea to run towards the car instead of waiting for Komui-san?"

"Because he's delusionally insane," Komui quipped unhelpfully from the front. "He likes being chased by people. I believe that's the only reason why he's even friends with Kanda-kun,"

Reiichi nodded in agreement, glaring at Lavi who just pouted back.

"What? I thought it'd be fun,"

"No, it's called suicidal, Lavi," she deadpanned.

The ride home was quite a noisy one, since Lenalee had turned to some radio station and Lavi was singing rather obnoxiously with the songs that were on air. Komui seemed to drive on like he was used to it. Reiichi noticed that Kanda hadn't said another word when he got in, choosing to gaze out the window at the passing scenery.

"Kanda, does your arm hurt?" Reiichi asked worriedly, peering at his right hand that had been constantly gripping the cast on his left arm.

She made to remove his hand, but Kanda jerked back and pulled his arm closer. "No, it's fine,"

"Then why are you gripping your arm?"

"It's just feels uncomfortable," he lied. Of course he couldn't show her what Lenalee had written on his cast the damn bitch, ugh, so he opted for the option he rather hated. "Rei, pass me the sling,"

She looked at him in surprise. "I thought you were bitching about not wearing it in the morning,"

"I wasn't bitching," he denied, grabbing the sling off her hands once she produced it from her pocket and slipping it on his cast quickly, hiding the godforsaken words.

Lenalee only giggled.

* * *

They had Chinese takeout for lunch, since Komui and Lenalee had to go back to the office. Opening the boxes of food, Kanda scowled when he discovered there wasn't any soba.

"Duh, what did you expect?" Lavi snorted, dumping the dim sums on a plate. "It's Chinese,"

"Soba is universal," Kanda insisted, grabbing his chopsticks and stabbing a _ha kau_, prawn dumpling, with it, eating it viciously. But this was so much better than the disgusting food the hospital tried to feed him in the morning, he admitted grudgingly.

"Ramen is universal," the male redhead corrected. "It's basically _la mian_ in China, spaghetti in Italy, cup noodles in everywhere else in the world," he swatted Kanda's hand away when the model tried to pick up another piece of food. "Dude, wait for Rei-chan, will you?"

Reiichi handed them all their bowls of congee she transferred from Tupperware to bowls for easier eating.

"Itadakimasu!" Lavi immediately shouted, digging into their meal.

"Hypocrite," Reiichi muttered, only settling down in her seat then. She wacked Lavi as he basically _inhaled _his food.

"But I'm hungry!" he whined in protest. "Why don't you hit Yuu too?"

"Because he stopped eating when I came in," she stated.

Kanda only smirked at Lavi who glared at him for betrayal. "Loser,"

Chinese food was good, Reiichi decided, chewing a _siew mai_ (prawn and meat dumpling) in her mouth. It was so succulent, so juicy, and the taste was just the right kind of salty and sweet. The fried carrot cake too, was a little unique. It was kind of sticky, but she could taste the fragrant white radish that it was made of. She was about to eat the roasted pork when Lavi spoke up in between in food.

"Yuu, you should've fractured your right arm," he commented. "Then Rei-chan can feed you!"

Maybe they were getting better at this, because Reiichi stepped on Lavi's foot the exact same moment that Kanda kicked him underneath the table.

"OWWWW!" her cousin shrieked, dropping his bowl on the table.

"Fuck, usagi," Kanda scowled. "Don't you have to go to work or something?"

After lunch he thought Lavi would leave them alone and so he could finally get Reiichi to tell him the important thing he had suffered so much to get to, but no, the photographer had other plans in mind. Reiichi was cleaning up the dishes by herself because his hand was quite incapacitated at the moment and Lavi was just better off not touching anything in the kitchen. Thus they were both settled on the couch while Lavi flipped through the channels on his television.

"We were supposed to shoot for _Prada_, but then you went and got run over," Lavi replied, bored.

"_Prada_? The one with the bitchy representative?"

"Yuu, you think all the representatives are bitchy," the male redhead turned to look at him pointedly. "But yeah, the bitchy one,"

"Then whatever," Kanda leaned back staring at the ceiling. "I'll do it tomorrow,"

"What!" Lavi's indignant squawk was enough to nearly make him jolt off the couch. "No! Komui gave us the week off!"

"I don't need a fucking week off!" Kanda didn't like to take long breaks unless necessary because his work piled up _fast_. He preferred a weeks with spare time in between, rather than to have spare time for a long period of time and then working like shit for the time after.

"You think you can model with the cast on and with how you're groaning like some old grandma whenever you put too much pressure on your side?" Lavi asked, raising an eyebrow. Honestly would it kill his friend to take painkillers sometimes?

"I do _not_ groan like an old grandma," Kanda retorted. "Anyway, this cast isn't going off for_ five _goddamn weeks. I'll do the shoots that will cover the stupid thing first,"

"Your body needs time to heal, Yuu," his friend frowned. "Ever heard of that word? Heal?"

"Shut up, I_ heal_ just fine staying at home or not,"

Lavi pouted. "But then you can spend more time with Rei-chan at home!"

"You wanted the break yourself. Just admit it, dumbass," Kanda rolled his eyes. "I'm going to work tomorrow, that's final,"

"Fine," Lavi grumbled. "I'm just trying to keep Rei-chan with us a little longer, can you truly blame me?"

"What do you mean?" the model stilled suddenly, eyeing him suspiciously.

"It's the last theme this week for our project, have you forgotten?" Lavi sighed more to himself. "She'll be working somewhere up those floors of the headquarters after that, not at the basement anymore," he pouted. "Well, I guess it's good that I can crash her new office then, ha ha ha,"

The last theme. Time had flown by so quickly that Kanda hadn't realized. It was now nearly seven weeks of knowing her, and she wasn't going to be his designer anymore. Despite all the weird clothing she had forced him into, he figured it had been rather…_fun. _Maybe. Not many designers made stuff like she did. And she was certainly better to hang out with than her annoying cousin. Damn, now he was stuck with only Lavi in the basement again.

Well, that thought felt a little bit empty, if he did say so himself.

"Get me water," Kanda demanded, bored of just watching Lavi still flipping through the channels.

"Rei-chan, the man wants some water!" Lavi called to the kitchen, focused on finding just one channel that didn't suck.

"Tell him to get it himself!" her voice shouted back.

Kanda merely looked at his friend. "I can't exactly carry the kettle," he shrugged, motioning to his arm.

"But Yuu-chan's injured!" he whined.

"Then you get it for him!"

Lavi pouted, reluctantly getting up from the couch and throwing the remote at Kanda. "Fine,"

He trudged to the kitchen, which was rare, considering he was never allowed in the kitchen, watching his cousin soap up the dishes and rinsing them under the water. "Let me help you with that," he made to take the plate in her hands, but she swatted him away.

"You and I both know you'd be helping me if you don't touch anything," she stated mercilessly, ignoring the shatter of his heart.

"Harsh," he commented, but he went over to take a glass from the cupboard for Kanda instead.

"Oh yeah," he snapped his fingers suddenly. "Since Yuu is such a workaholic, we're shooting this week's theme as per normal,"

"Does he not know the meaning of rest?" Reiichi commented, but really, she didn't expect anything less.

"Uh, no, he doesn't," he replied bluntly. "Anyway the theme—"

"It's _Pride_, I know," she cut him off, barely skipping a beat. "I know what I want to make,"

"Excited for this one, eh?" he looked at her curiously, but her face didn't give anything away.

He turned his attention to the kettle with the glass of water in his hands. Now, where was the button to release the water? Or was he supposed to fill it with water first? In fact, was there even any water in it? Lifting the kettle up, he discovered it was empty. Shoot.

"Lavi…" Reiichi began. "After this shoot, what I am going to do?"

Lavi paused, not used to her asking him this. "What happened to the girl who always wanted to do things her way, huh?"

"That was when she actually was on a way for a _degree,_" she rolled her eyes.

"Eh heh," Lavi chuckled a little at that. He guessed the next step was to fill it with water, so he carried the kettle over to the sink.

Reiichi moved to let him fill it, and he placed it back on the counter, searching for the button to release the water.

"You've got to boil the water first, Lavi," Reiichi instructed, pointing to the power point. "Connect that and press the button,"

"Thanks," her cousin connected it, and she turned back to her own task. "Anyway, you'll join the design guys upstairs," he said in reply to her question, "You've met them before right?"

"Yeah," she responded. Reever, Johnny, Tapp...Very nice people. "But isn't that…cheating?"

"Rei-chan," Lavi stopped in his search for the goddamn button he was trying to find and looked at her. "I know you are more than qualified. Komui knows you are more than qualified. Hell, even Lady _Anita_ is headhunting you, and you know what that means."

"But the critics—"

"You haven't been keeping up with the news, have you?"

"I don't particularly like to read tabloids," she snorted, starting to wipe the bowls dry.

"It's hilarious, actually, most of the time. Like how the rumour about Yuu cutting his hair has been circulating for like, _years_," he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, you're pretty popular, you know that? Lots' of Yuu-chan's fans like the different sides of him you've portrayed."

"Look, if you really want, we can do this the traditional way," he continued at her hesitation."Komui will set an interview date for you and you'll be judged fairly, like a real job interview. How about that?"

"That sounds scary," she admitted. "But I think that's better,"

He shrugged. "Okay. Just as long you don't join _Vogue_ or Matsumoto or the Noah—"

"That's basically everyone but you,"

"I know," he grinned back cheekily.

A certain carbon smell in the air caught Reiichi's attention and she stowed the last of the plate she was drying and scanned the kitchen. Was it the gas? No, the stove seemed fine to her. She looked around, unable to find the trace of the strange smell when Lavi stopped in his mindless whistling and yelped suddenly.

"Lavi, what are you—" she was unable to finished her sentence, looking on horrified as the kettle he had been giving so much attention to turn inky black. She did not know how the hell he managed to do that, nor did she want to know. Quickly, she flicked the power switch off and glared at him.

"Whoops?" Lavi tried innocently. "I was just trying find that button that release the water!"

"You_ pour_ the water from the kettle, you idiot!" she sighed. "And the water wasn't even boiled yet,"

"Oh, we can try it again," he made to flick the power back on and Reiichi realized that his hands were still _wet_.

"Lavi!" she nearly screamed in frustration. "Don't touch anything! Just, don't touch anything,"

"What the fuck happened?" Kanda appeared at the kitchen doorway, scowling immediately when he saw the state of his kettle. "Fuck, usagi! What the hell did you do to my kettle? Why must you always screw up some goddamn simple thing?"

Reiichi decided it was better to leave the kettle there for a while in case she touched it and electrocuted herself.

"Chill, dude, nothing serious happened," Lavi sniffed, pressing the empty glass he was still holding against the lever in the water dispenser of the fridge.

"Nothing serious? You fucking broke my kettle! Again!"

"Relax, Yuu, you can always get another one," Lavi slung an arm around Kanda's shoulder, pressing the glass of cold water into the model's hands and leading him back towards their living room as Reiichi shook her head exasperatedly and followed behind them.

"I hope your _right arm_ is strong enough to carry your next kettle then," Lavi whispered innocently in Kanda's ear, patting him on the shoulder and bounced away to the couch.

* * *

"So what are we watching again, this time?" Kanda resigned himself to the fact that Lavi was not going to leave.

Between watching a movie and Lavi talking, he'd choose the movie any day in a heartbeat. Actually he could not comprehend why Lavi was so excited at the moment, for he was jumping up and down and waving the disc cover in the air. Reiichi took a seat next to Kanda, also wondering why her cousin was going insane at the moment.

"Oh, it's a special one," Lavi grinned in a disturbing way that reminded Kanda of the Moyashi. "Rei-chan, you'll _love _me for this," he declared, shoving the cover into her face. "Ta-da!"

"Final Fantasy Seven, Advent Children Com—you didn't!" she gasped, eyes shining in the way other girls_ always_ looked at him but never her. Huh.

"Oh but I did!" her cousin cackled as he jumped away out of reach and she tried to take the disc from him.

"How the heck did you get this? Even I didn't know there was a _complete_ version! Since when?" she asked, tiptoeing to grab the plastic thing in Lavi's hand but unfortunately Lavi was just so much taller than her.

"Since you were too busy with Yuu to pay attention to your virtual reality boyfriends anymore," the male redhead teased, earning a slap on his stomach for either the Yuu comment or the boyfriend comment, he didn't know.

"So what's different about this version? Added scenes?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah," then he started to snicker. "Oh Rei-chan, your _beloved_ Cloud will be—" he stopped, snickering to himself again.

"What? Why are you laughing?" she demanded but he shooed her to the couch.

"You'll see for yourself. Don't have a tumor about it, Rei-chan," he grinned, pushing the disc into the playstation.

Reiichi eyed him suspiciously, returning back to the couch reluctantly. Kanda just watched her with shifty eyes, not really understanding what was going on. Virtual reality boyfriends? Cloud? What the fuck was that?

Lavi pushed himself between the two people he loved most in the world again and slung an arm around each, getting himself comfortable. He spied Kanda's rather confused look and nudged him. "Don't be jealous, Yuu-chan," the male redhead grinned, speaking in a low tone so that Reiichi wouldn't hear.

Not that she would have, since Reiichi was sitting rather straight with full attention on the screen.

_To those who loved this world... and knew friendly company therein: This reunion is for you._

And the movie began.

* * *

If Kanda didn't know what irritated, affronted, aggravated, bothered, bugged, grated, irked, peeved or riled meant, he certainly did now. Of course he knew what all those synonyms of being annoyed meant, because he knew Lavi. But the sad thing was that his nerves were on the end of the stick because of some goddamn character that didn't fucking _exist_.

"Goddamn it, he's such a wimp," he groaned, watching as how the blonde man on screen looked guiltily away from a burette lady talking to him.

"Cloud's_ not_ a wimp," Reiichi hushed him quite defensively, even though he knew she totally watched this before.

As if the way she muttered the exact same words as the woman on screen wasn't a big clue enough. He couldn't understand how Reiichi seemed so _enamored_ with the blonde protagonist and well, not with him. He could see it, the way she smiled when he came on screen, the appreciative eyes, all directed to some person who wasn't real. This _Cloud_—he snickered again at the name, _Cloud_, hah, what kind of moronic name was that—had basically been fucking _depressing_ the whole entire way. Even the lady, he now knew as Tifa, kicked more ass than this Cloud did.

Just what did Reiichi see in him? He looked so damn fake—no one could wield a fucking buster sword that size. Honestly. No one. Maybe it was the eyes. He remembered he argued with her something about light blue eyes before, because Cloud's eyes practically shone aquamarine. Huh.

_Gay._

"Aww, she's so adorable," Lavi cooed when a little girl, Marlene, came on screen. "I think she's like, my favorite character,"

"That's because you're a pedophile," Reiichi retorted. "Pick someone more _legal_,"

"Well, Aerith is kind of _dead_," he shrugged. "Man, why did she have to die? That goes against all the rules of anime, manga and gaming! It's like as bogus as the main character dying or something,"

"Well if the main character died," she deadpanned. "The story would _end_,"

"My point exactly," he insisted.

The movie droned on and Kanda was just watching the fight scenes aimlessly. He only actually looked properly when it suddenly became quiet and he felt the two other people tense beside him and he squinted at the screen. One of the silver haired guys, the long haired one, basically flew through a helicopter on a motorcycle, aiming right on towards the helicopter's control device with his gun.

BANG.

"Holy shit," Lavi whispered, starting to grin. "Holy _shit_, I think I'm in love with him,"

"You do seem to have an attachment with long haired males," Reiichi agreed, but she didn't take her eyes off the screen either. "But that was cool,"

"Cool? That was mega awesome!" Lavi insisted excitedly, and then pouted when Reiichi didn't seem to be sharing his enthusiasm. "Just because it's not _Blondie_—"

"Don't call him that," she smacked him on the arm.

Lavi pouted harder, letting her ogle at the blonde man that came back on screen again. He glanced to Kanda who was scowling to himself and leaned over. "Just to update you on your status, you're losing,"

"I'm _not _fucking losing," Kanda hissed back on impulse. "Shit. I mean, I'm not fucking losing because I'm not playing any stupid game!"

"Uh huh, I heard you the first time, Yuu," Lavi grinned teasingly.

More fight scenes were ensued on screen, and finally they came to one part where the music stopped playing again. Cloud was standing above the short silver haired guy, Kadaj, who was hanging off the edge dangerously with one hand, a metal box tucked securely into in other arm. Suddenly the silver male flung himself off the ledge in a suicide movement but he was smirking creepily even as the box sliced open, leaking green fluid.

"_Boku no Reunion_…" Kadaj, stared at Cloud triumphantly. "_Misete ageru yo_," and he pressed the sick green substance to his chest, screaming.

Cloud's eyes widened, leaping over the edge to stop the other, and the music that followed gyrated so badly on Kanda's ears that he nearly cursed. Just a sudden as it started, it stopped when Cloud made to slash at Kadaj who was now standing nonchalantly at the bottom with his hands out.

"_Sashiburi dana…Cloud,"_ Bright green eyes with silted pupils faced Cloud's own widened in shock blue ones.

Kanda swore he heard Reiichi's breath hitch that totally ruined his mood. Apparently Kadaj had morphed into a new character, one with ridiculously long silver hair (even his own hair wasn't that long) and with a ridiculously long sword that he knew, because he took kendo, duh, was impossible to handle given the range and the weight of it. Sephiroth. God, all their names sounded so stupid.

"He's too creepy, even for me," Lavi commented as Sephiroth ranted off in the generic bad guy speech as the sky became stormy.

The fight between Cloud and Sephiroth launched off, both of them crazily swinging their swords at unbelievable speeds.

"_I was thinking of a parting gift for you," _Sephiroth smirked, slicing a part of some building like it was nothing as he flew up, defying gravity. "_How about I send you some despair_?"

They traded blows again, and Cloud managed to stick his sword in the side of the building before he fell on the way down. He balanced on his sword, looking up at his enemy.

"_Kneel down, and show me the sight of you begging for mercy_," Sephiroth spread out his arms, and the top portion of the building crumbled down towards the blonde. Laughing, the silver haired man sliced an opening for himself and disappeared.

"Kinkyyy," Lavi couldn't help but put in.

Reiichi watched enraptured as one of her favourite scenes was up and coming. Cloud looked at the bunch of debris heading dangerously his way and stepped on his sword, releasing a small a part that he stuck in the building beside his main sword. Jumping down, he grasped both swords and kicked backwards; flipping in an unreliable fashion and fighting his way up that just awed her every single time.

"Now that," she pointed. "Is awesome,"

"That was damn unrealistic," Kanda disagreed. "He can't go _up_ if he jumped _down_,"

"Anime physics," she defended.

The fight dragged on and on and on and Kanda was getting rather bored at seeing the two duke it out. Finally the duo was at the top of some other building, since the entire landscape looked the same. Cloud was glowing—fuck, he was _glowing_ what the hell—blue, as the man stood a firm stance and frowned determinedly while Sephiroth kept taunting the other.

In some epic moment, Cloud jumped, ready to swing his sword and Sephiroth just stabbed forward, sword piercing right through the other's abdomen. "_Taste the pain as you once did,"_

"Shit," Reiichi watched stunned for a moment. "I can't believe he stabbed him _again_!"

Hell _yes_, Kanda for once agreed with the overly mentally fucked silver haired man, watching with some satisfaction as Cloud writhed with obvious pain. Beside him, Lavi was laughing so hard the weird freak.

"Ha! That's what your lover boy gets, Rei-chan!"

Reiichi pinched Lavi for the comment, eliciting a yowl but she continued to watch with vaguely suppressed horror as Cloud was tossed in the air and poked at like a toy. Which looked really amusing to Kanda now as he tried not to snicker.

The air stilled again when Cloud entranced a trance—maybe—Kanda didn't really get it, and another new character popped up. This time, it was a black spiky haired man with glassy blue eyes and a scar on his face. He got irked again because Reiichi so obviously recognized this person, for she leaned even more forwards smiling bright.

"_Zack_," Cloud murmured breathing heavily as he tried to balance himself after impacting the ground.

"_Well, do you need a hand with him_?" The newcomer, Zack, asked, and Cloud shook his head.

_"You already beat him once, didn't you? This should be a cinch!"_

"_Yeah,"_

"He looks so fucking _uke_," Kanda just had to spit that out, lips curling in disgust.

"Why, wanna be his seme?" Lavi replied in a heartbeat, because that comment was so asking for it.

_"Cloud, you know what I told you."_

Reiichi ignored them both for the best part of it all was coming.

_"__That's right," _both her and Lavi repeated it in the exact same timing that it left Cloud's mouth, and she grinned. _"I am your living legacy,"_

In her very factual opinion, Sephiroth's ass got handed back to him as Cloud hissed, "_There's nothing that _isn't _important to me_," Oh how she loved that line, and seeing Cloud finally perform his limit break was always breathtaking and just so cool, especially they way he caught his sword at the end.

"_Stay quietly in my memories_," Cloud murmured.

"_I will not be a mere memory_," Lavi had to mouth along with that one, just because.

A black wing wrapped around Sephiroth and feathers dispersed in the air, releasing a figure, falling ungracefully on the floor. It was Kadaj again. Kanda had almost forgotten about him. He watched with much repulsion as he witnessed possibly the gayest scene ever in his entire life after the stupid Ring show and Froto and Spam at the volcano—whatever—as Cloud caught Kadaj in his arms and leaned the other's head on his lap.

"Gay, so fucking _gay_," he muttered, cringing at the sight on screen.

"They're not," Reiichi immediately retorted, watching as Kadaj disappeared into the uh, air, with shiny lights.

Kanda thought the entire show was over—thank god—but unfortunately it wasn't. Suddenly a loud gunshot rang through their ears and Reiichi stifled a gasp of horror although he _knew_ she had anticipated it and he scowled, knowing that the reason behind it all was due to Cloud collapsing on screen.

"I hope he actually died from that one," he commented, noting how there was barely any blood or abrasion on Cloud even after being stabbed right through.

"Nah, he doesn't," Lavi quipped. "I told you it's hex—the main guy just doesn't die,"

Indeed, after a rather long (and boring) scene of Cloud floating in white light and some voices and a conversation, Cloud was revived in a pool of water.

"So he floated on the water all this while?" Kanda demanded, finding it just a tad bit ridiculous.

Reiichi shrugged because she honestly didn't know the explanation to that one. The movie came to an end where Cloud finally stares off in the direction with a pink clothed girl and Zack disappeared to, and he thinks to himself, smiling for the first time, "_I'm not alone_,"

_Hitori ja nai._

Cliché. So fucking _cliché. _Kanda was never watching this movie ever again.

* * *

**Owari.**

He's jealous. He just doesn't want to admit it.

I had a lot of fun bullying Kanda in the beginning hahahaha

Because **Pirates of the Caribbean** would have been harder to include, since I haven't watched it for some time now. Thus **Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete**, as I have watched that a bazillion times enough for me to recite the whole thing. Don't you find it so ironic that _Takahiro Sakurai_ is both Kanda's and Cloud's seiyuu? :D

Fillery chapter~ If you haven't watched FFVII ACC then please accept my apologies :D

* * *

If any of you were curious, this was the original small scene I wrote on a whim one day using **FFVII ACC. **Somehow I discovered that Reiichi's character is vastly different from what I planned it out to be...

_Omake._

* * *

Even before Kanda turned the door knob, he knew Rei was watching one of her shows again. There was a hard rock rhythm emitting from his house, followed by some metal clashing. The girl's auditory senses were definitely non-existent. He was sure his _neighbour_ could hear her choice movie. That's something when you live in a bigass mansion with a sizeable pool and yard in it.

And, she was wasting electricity.

He stepped in, tossing the car key on the small table. Almost immediately, he was blinded by his television screen that shone amidst the darkness. He spotted the girl sitting at the edge of his couch, eyes wide in excitement, although he could bet she had seen this movie before.

"Rei," he called, wincing slightly when the background music seemed to go up a notch higher, if it was even possible. "WOMAN!"

She jumped in surprise, nearly falling off. Rei whipped her head around to find a displeased man staring at her.

"I'm bored and I have nothing to do, so yes, even if I have watched this for the nth time, I still want to, so go away," she said in one breath, turning back to her show.

Kanda opened his mouth to say something but closed it.

"Where's mother?" came the television screen. There was the shrieking of tyres and Kanda flinched.

"Lower the volume," he demanded, stalking over to snatch the remote. "Are you deaf?"

Once down to a _reasonable_ volume where he deduced that his ears were safe, he finally looked at the screen.

There was a blonde man on a bike being chased by some... black shadow things, and they were closing in on him. The man reflexively ducked as an onslaught of the shadow things came, but suddenly the black things disappeared. The view centered on a silver haired man, smirking as he made off.

It would be all and normal of an action movie, only the people in it.. weren't really people.

"What's this shit?"

Ah, the ever so eloquent Kanda.

"Go away," the girl grumbled. "Don't spoil this for me."

The model surprisingly obliged, stalking to his room.

A few minutes later, he came out, changed into a more comfortable pair of shirt and pants. He slid into one end of the couch. Rei spared him a questioning look because the scene was one of the customary plot story telling.

"I can see the light from the television," he snapped, obviously feeling sulky. He was one of those people who needed complete darkness to sleep.

Rei felt a twinge of guilt, but she wanted to watch this. Final Fantasy Seven.**Complete**. She had watched the original one a few times with Lavi, but finally she had gotten hold of the complete version. Kanda would just have to sacrifice his sleep.

"I beg of you, ex-SOLDIER, Cloud," Rufus Shinra was saying.

"I call myself that," Cloud mumbled, turning to the door.

"His name is Cloud?" there was incredulity in Kanda's voice as well as poorly concealed amusement. "Cloud?" He made some sort of a strangled snort, face twisted into an expression that reminded Rei of highschool bullies.

"Yes," she sighed exasperatedly. She did not exactly appreciate it when Cloud was her favourite character. "And you're Kanda and I'm Rei. It's just a _name_."

"It's a stupid name," he insisted. "Cloud- ha!"

Rei rolled her eyes, because Kanda was just childish like that.


	31. Chapter 30

**-Imitation Black-**

**

* * *

**

"Morning Yuu-chan!" Lavi slammed the door of his best friend's room open, causing the model inside to jump in shock, followed by a strong of curses directed at him.

"Get out of my room, usagi!" Kanda shouted, glaring, for he was in the midst of getting dressed.

Normally he'd be up a lot earlier practicing Kendo, but then he couldn't exactly perform his katas with one useable arm. Thus after swinging the_ shinai_ around and meditating just for a little bit, he ended his morning workout early. He'd be ecstatic when he could get the goddamn cast off—because it was just bringing him nothing but trouble, especially when he bathed.

Not to mention those cheesy love words on his cast that he just wanted to do something about it but was unable to, because if Lenalee knew he cancelled those out, she'd just write another one. In the end he settled for wrapping another thin sheet of cloth around the cast, just so he didn't have to wear the sling anymore.

Back to topic at hand, Kanda was busy buttoning his shirt, fumbling a little since it was a little difficult considering his state at the moment, when Lavi barged in, happy as the morning sun.

"Having trouble there, Yuu?" his friend bounced over, completely ignoring his verbal protest to get out of the room.

"No, just get the hell _out_—"

Lavi whistled on as though Kanda didn't say anything, hands deftly buttoning up his friend's shirt and Kanda just gave up and allowed himself to be helped. For once. "There," the redhead patted him on the shoulder, smiling. "If you ever need help with that when I'm not here, don't be shy and just ask Rei-chan. She'll play the part of your cute concerned wife—"

Kanda pressed his entire hand on Lavi's face just to make the idiot stop talking. Ever since he had let slip about some small comment at him not losing to the blonde bitch aka _Cloud Strife,_ Lavi was hell bent on teasing him in particular, about her. It was two sides of a coin. If Reiichi started to ignore him again, Lavi would stop with the annoyingness, but he'd rather not. It was so difficult to get where they were now—still slightly awkward on her part, but they were communicating, at least.

That reminded Kanda, as he glared hatefully at the back of his retreating supposed best friend, that he hadn't talked to Reiichi about the thing she was supposed to tell him, because Lavi was just not going away. The redhead had stayed over the night, and he was going to be there throughout their time in the office.

Reiichi was at the kitchen with her head peering into the fridge when they came in.

"Kanda," she smiled when he walked in, and damn did it feel good. "What do you want to drink? Lavi killed the kettle yesterday so green tea is out,"

Damn. Another reason to throttle the rabbit. What else did he drink? "Milk,"

As Reiichi reached in to take the carton of milk, Lavi went over to whine. "Rei-chan, why didn't you ask me what I want? Why do you only care for your _koibito_—"

The milk carton was shoved roughly against Lavi's chest, and Lavi suddenly noticed that she was annoyed, yes, but she was also blushing while she scowled. "I already did," she glared at him, and it was too cute. "And he is_ not _my—"

Lavi walked away innocently with the milk carton, heading over to the cupboards to take out the cups, letting her trail off uselessly with eyes narrowed at his back. Reiichi huffed, taking her own drink this time—apple juice—and poured it into the cup Lavi tossed her. She refused to look anywhere at Kanda, but when she peeked at him; he seemed to be distracted by the newspaper.

Lucky.

* * *

"Kanda-sama, are you sure you can—"

"Yes,"

"But shouldn't you—"

"No,"

"Okay, if you're so sure—"

"I am,"

"If you need a break then we can—"

"I'm fine," he hissed, temper flaring with much irritation.

Kanda was this close, this _close_, to beheading the stupid new _Prada _representative and strangling her neck with her own intestines. If he thought no one could beat Lavi on the annoying scale, then he was dead wrong. If he was fucking fine to be up and walking, then he was fucking _fine _to model. The only thing holding him back was that she was a girl and he just didn't hit females.

"Yuu-chan! Ready? Ready? Rea—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!"

Lavi laughed. He laughed so much that he was nearly crying at this point. His camera was safely tucked in his stomach as he bent down to laugh, cheeks flush with amusement. When he went into the model's changing room, it was purely because Kanda seemed to be taking a rather long time in the room with the representative. And he didn't like the representative because she couldn't take her hands off Kanda the moment she came in. He'd take the bitchy one back any day.

But back to the matter at hand, he was still gasping for air when Kanda loomed over him dangerously and kicked him rather hard in the shin (exact same spot where he got kicked before even), but the pain wasn't even enough to quell the continued laughter.

"Y-you're wearing a skirt!" Lavi choked out finally amidst chortles. "A skirt! Oh my god, Rei-chan needs to see this!" he dashed out of the room, running towards Reiichi's door.

"FUCK! DON'T—" Kanda tried to lunge after Lavi, but he wasn't exactly in the shape to run, considering his wound.

He did think what he was wearing was fucking ridiculous, and he did kick up quite a fuss about it, but in the end, he had no choice. He would've thought Lavi would shrug it off since it wasn't the first time he was modeling girly clothing made for men, how stupid, but then he forgot this was _Lavi._

Lavi was dragging a reluctant Reiichi out of her workroom door excitedly. "Lavi, I'm sure whatever Kanda's wearing is just fine—" and then she stopped when she spotted Kanda gripping the edge of the door of his changing room with both obvious pain and anger.

The Japanese was wearing a nude long sleeved top with a white collar, and on his arms, loose arm warms that flared at the ends that covered up his cast. On his hips, this was the part that she just couldn't just but stare wordlessly, was a black _frilly_ short skirt. Underneath that he wore shiny grey pants and black shoes, but the skirt. Oh the skirt. She couldn't exactly describe what she was feeling at the moment.

Pity? Sympathy? Or amusement? Or just being horrified at how Kanda was actually pulling the look off, because the way the nude top clung to his body was unreal. His figure was slim, svelte, almost like a ballerina. And she _knew_ he was actually kind of muscular under that. But then again, he was wearing a _skirt_…

A small chortle slipped her lips and she couldn't help the way she started to grin, because it was actually pretty hilarious.

"Shut the hell up!" Kanda stalked over to Lavi who was by the way, still laughing, face flushed from embarrassment and he discovered he just couldn't look at Reiichi.

What would she think of him now, dressed in something like this?

"Too cute, Yuu, too cute," Lavi snickered, trying to bat away the hands that were trying to punch him. "Don't you think so too, Rei-chan?"

Reiichi only let out a whimper, turning away to go back to her workroom, biting her lips to prevent herself from laughing out loud.

Yeah, Kanda really hated _Prada_.

* * *

It was already 10 pm and Kanda realized he still hadn't gotten the chance to be alone with Reiichi, because Lavi just kept getting in the way. After work they had gone out for dinner together, and then supper after that and Lavi seemed like he wanted to go on for karaoke or something, but thankfully Reiichi put her food down at that.

"Aww, but I can't stay over tonight! I wanna make the most of today!" Lavi whined, clawing at Reiichi.

"I'm tired, Lavi," Reiichi yawned, swatting his hands away. "I want to sleep. And don't you think you should let Kanda rest too?"

"Why? Worried for lover boy?"

"His arm," she rolled her eyes. "He's been flexing it continuously for the past hour now,"

It was true, because the stress on Kanda's arm was getting heavier and heavier due to the plaster of paris that gave his left arm added weight.

"But it's his own fault for not wearing the sling!"

"It's not his fault for getting hurt!" she retorted, eyes narrowed seriously, and Lavi realized that she still felt responsible about it.

"Rei-chan…" he pulled her in a hug in the middle of the street, brushing his nose against her cheek softly.

Reiichi squeezed him back, head resting on his shoulders. "Sorry, I'm just really tired now…"

"Stop talking like I'm not here," Kanda scowled, pushing them both apart. "I say we're going home," he grabbed Reiichi's wrist and pulled her away. "I don't_ care_ what you want to do, usagi," he said before Lavi could protest. "We are going,"

"Fine," Lavi pouted, watching Kanda drag his cousin across the street.

"NO KISSING ON FIRST DATE, CHILDREN!" Lavi shouted and waved to them enthusiastically.

Kanda turned to flip him the finger, but Reiichi ignored him though he could see the bristle. He watched them fondly disappear down the street. Kanda and Reiichi was acting a little different than normal. Reiichi was almost constantly worrying about Kanda, doing things for him without compliant. And the kind of smiles she was always giving his best friend now was just different. Man, even he was starting to feel jealous that he wasn't on the receiving end on those smiles that she just looked _happy_. Kanda was another special case, because maybe the model himself never noticed it, but the expression he held when he always looked at Reiichi just felt so much _calmer_.

Hmm. Something was going on~ His love senses were tingling.

* * *

They had walked home in silence, occasionally Reiichi would yawn and stumble a bit in sleepiness, but they managed to reach back safely. It had been the tiring day for them both, mainly because they had hung around Lavi for the entire day, and god knows how much energy that sapped by itself. Reiichi opened the gate and front door for them to enter, relieved that she was reaching her bed soon.

"It's not your fault you know," Kanda suddenly said, and she nearly jumped in shock.

"What?" she locked the front door up, turning to look at him who had walked past her.

"The arm," he cocked his head toward the limb.

"But…" she gazed at the cast, eyes unreadable.

"But nothing,"

"Kanda…" Reiichi smiled at him bashfully, eyes twinkling under the little moonlight that shone in the house. "Thanks,"

"Whatever," Kanda had turned away, feet stepping lightly to his own room.

He paused when his hand was on the doorknob as if remembering something.

"Rei," Kanda grabbed her arm before she could walk past him to her room. "The usagi is not here. Can you tell me now?"

"Tell you what?" she looked back, confused.

The Japanese sighed, frustrated. "Whatever you were going to say that you promised you'd tell me,"

"Oh," Reiichi's eyes widened in acknowledgement. If she had felt incredibly sleepy just now, she was wide awake at this point. This was too sudden. Too fast. She averted her eyes and stared at the wall beside them. "It's late, so I'll tell you tomorrow—"

"No," Kanda took a predatory step forward and she back stepped, back hitting the wall in just two steps. "Just tell me now," he pinned her with his gaze, the right arm leaning on the wall to trap her in place.

The house was dark, since neither of them had bothered to switch on the lights when they came in, and Reiichi was immensely thankful for that. Her cheeks were heating up just realizing what kind of position they were in, and she didn't dare to look back at him, choosing to stare at his collarbone.

"Well?" Kanda's deep baritone was too close to her ears, and a shiver went down her spine.

She was going insane at this point—heart beating too fast, too loud, thoughts of him that just kept polluting her mind—she wanted him to hold her, kiss her, anything—and she was barely breathing. The atmosphere just kept getting hotter and hotter, not helping her case any, and she had to curse herself when she detected his scent, that familiar and comforting one that ironically made her blush even harder.

She was so screwed.

"Are you going to talk? Or do we have to wait two hours again?" Kanda asked, seemingly very content to trap her against the wall. His eyes were glinting with some sort of satisfaction and thrill, as if knowing that this time she would finally crack.

He kind of liked the way she was being so flustered at the moment. She always hid that, but now it was rather plain for him to see. It was dark, yes, but his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness and he could see her trying to look for a way out, but of course she wouldn't find one. He wasn't going to let her to.

Anymore of this and Reiichi knew she was going to faint, so she pressed her hands against his chest, hoping that he would let up, but it was a bad idea because some sort of electricity just streaked through her fingers the moment she touched him. Her breath hitched, and she covered her mouth, face totally red with embarrassment.

Shit. Shit. _Shit_.

She couldn't do this. In fact, she didn't think she had to say anything anymore since it was so damn obvious at this point that she liked him. She squeezed her hands together nervously and started to play with her fingers that were trembling too much.

"I…"

Kanda's right hand trailed down to touch her jaw, lifting her chin up to force her to look at him. She just about stopped _living _at the look he was giving her. He was smirking, eyes dark and sinful as his velvety tone vibrated past her ear. "Speak up, I can't hear you,"

"I like you," she blurted, and she just stared at him for a second before it dawned upon her that she actually said it.

Kanda just blinked back at her. "What?" his voice said disbelievingly.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my _god_—Reiichi started to panic, when it suddenly occurred to her that she had actually said it—oh my god. She blushed furiously, eyes looking at everywhere else but him, not daring to see his expression. "I…that's why I…" she stumbled over her words, stuttering. "I couldn't…talk to you anymore…'cause I…" she stopped, unable to continue anymore.

"Sorry, I…" Reiichi stammered, biting her lips nervously, pushing past Kanda quickly and wrenching open her door like her life depended on it. She almost dashed in, shutting the door quickly behind her without the guts to look back.

Slowly she leaned against the back of her closed door in a daze, sliding down to the ground slowly uncomprehendingly.

She said it.

She actually said it.

_I like you._

There was no way he could misinterpret that, could he?

Now Kanda knew. He _knew._ She couldn't turn back time. She was stuck living her life knowing that Kanda knew she liked him. Was that good or bad? She didn't know. Did he like her back? Most likely not. That was a little down heartening, but she wasn't going to get her hopes up. There was just no way he could ever like her back. But confessing it all seemed to take a weight off her shoulders. She didn't have to hide it anymore. She didn't have to try and delude herself that she didn't really like him, because she did and she was just falling even harder.

He was oddly sweet and nice to her, some of the times, and just knowing that made her feel special. He _cared_. He mattered. That was all.

She held to their promise. She said it.

"Lenalee…" she started a call with shaky hands, voice breathless.

"Hmm, what's up Reiichi?"

"I…told him. I told Kanda,"

Lenalee's reaction over the phone was something she had expected, but the sheer volume of the model's voice was something she did not.

"YOU DID?" Lenalee shrieked in most likely joy, or jubilation. "YOU CONFESSED? I NEVER THOUGHT YOU WOULD—OH! HOW WAS IT? HOW DID IT GO?"

"Well, he...didn't really give me a choice actually," Reiichi mumbled, placing an arm over her eyes. Her entire face was still burning in embarrassment. "Remember the car accident? I was supposed to tell him then when it happened. So he made me promise him to tell him,"

"Still!" Lenalee lowered her volume, but she was still squealing. "I can't believe it! This is mega awesome—wait, what did Kanda-kun say?"

"I kind of, um, ran away," she admitted, wincing when Lenalee's "WHAT?" blasted in her ear.

"He looked…shocked, maybe? I don't know…"

"Listen, Reiichi," Lenalee continued, but she sounded excited now. "Believe me when I say I_ know_ Kanda-kun likes you,"

"But it's probably not the same way as I—"

"Why do you sound like you don't want him to like you back?" the Chinese frowned. "Reiichi, maybe you haven't noticed, but Kanda-kun has done a lot of things for you that prove his feelings, even if he doesn't understand it himself,"

"Lenalee, I don't want to get my hopes up and be disappointed," Reiichi whispered dejectedly. "Kanda is the first person I ever really liked and he's isn't someone I would expect to like me back… I won't believe anything until it comes out from his own mouth,"

"Oh you will," Lenalee smiled. "Tomorrow, ask him directly,"

"I don't think I can do that!" Reiichi refused, horrified. She didn't want to go through another of what just happened.

"Reiichi, sometimes you just got to go all out for something you really want,"

"But I don't think I really want this," Reiichi cupped her face in her hands. "I was so terrified with what just happened and I just, absolutely, _cannot _do it again—"

"Do you really not want this, Reiichi?" Lenalee asked again. "Or do you?

* * *

_I like you._

Perhaps it had been ten minutes since the moment Reiichi had ran into her room, leaving him outside standing.

Reiichi liked him. _She_ liked him? Yeah right. What happened to the girl he met who was so dead set on not liking him? He was dreaming. He had to be. But the dull ache of his left arm kept him living in reality. It wasn't his imagination that he actually wanted to just leaned forward and do _something _when he trapped her against the wall, because she looked entirely tempting—it wasn't everyday that she was that openly flustered and it was…_cute_. It wasn't his imagination that he purposely teased her when he smirked, lowing his voice just to see her body react to his, and he rather liked it. It wasn't his imagination either that when he touched her face, the sensation was like burning fire, and he _wanted _more, would've done more but she suddenly said those three words.

_I like you._

That wasn't his imagination, was it?

No it wasn't, unless he was delusional and insane and so desperate that her words kept ringing in his ears. Some sort of warm had collected in his heart and he just breathed shallowly, unable to believe it.

Was this love that the Moyashi had been talking about?

Never before had a confession ever made him feel this way. He had received plenty of declarations of love in his life thus far, but none never really struck him the same way as did hers. His heart was beating ridiculously _fast_—it never beats fast for a good reason—and he just felt pretty damn good at the moment. She liked him.

No wonder she couldn't tell him when Lavi was around. The way she stuttered and fumbled after that was definitely something he hadn't seen before, and no doubt he knew her cousin would just continue to tease her about it for the rest of her life. It felt good knowing that he was probably the only one who had ever seen her in that state, and he wanted to see it again.

Kanda would deny it, but he was definitely grinning to himself (okay, maybe smirking) as he let himself into his own room and stretched, feeling his muscles loosen after standing like an idiot outside for ten minutes straight. Suddenly he noticed something in his pants vibrating and he pulled his phone out, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Who is this?"

"Why hello there, Kanda," Allen's way too perky voice replied. "It's a miracle that you didn't say 'fuck' when you answered the call. Did something good happen?"

"Fuck you," Kanda snorted, just because. "What do you want?"

"Just to update you on your own love life," the Moyashi answered and there was a teasing tint to his voice. "You must have been rather _busy _considering I've called you for three times now,"

"I don't need a fucking update," Kanda retorted, flopping himself on the bed, but he wondered why he hadn't hung up on the brat yet. Maybe he really was in a good mood.

"Anyway, now that Reiichi has confessed to you—"

"How the hell do you know that!" Kanda demanded, sitting up straight and wincing. The gash. Right.

"Because I'm your personal stalker," Allen intoned creepily, then laughed. "Stop looking out the window, BaKanda, I'm not hiding in your bushes,"

Kanda was _not_ looking out the window—he was _not_ paranoid, okay—"Bitch,"

The brat merely laughed. "As I was saying, now that you know Reiichi likes you, don't be an arse and do something about it, will you?"

"What do you mean "do something about it"?"

"Confess back or something!" came the brat's incredulous tone. "You weren't planning to leave her hanging, were you?"

He hadn't really thought about doing anything actually. "I have nothing to confess!" he growled.

"I thought we were over the denial stage already, Kanda," Allen sounded bored.

Kanda bristled at that. "I am _not_ in denial!"

"Oh really?" the other mocked. "Well then, do you like Reiichi?"

Fuck the brat. Honestly he hated admitting anything even if it was true.

"Well?"

"Fuck—"

"I'm taking that as a yes," Allen snorted, amused. "Since it's you and I both know it's_ impossible_ for someone like you to say it," he continued on blithely. "So, since you_ do_ like her back, hug her, kiss her, I don't know. Just make sure to let her know,"

"Look, why are you so concerned about this?" Kanda didn't understand why so many people kept poking into his—their—business.

"Because," He could hear the brat rolling his eyes. "You're a jerk, BaKanda, and Reiichi's _scared _of her own feelings. If you truly care about her, sic your ego aside and make her happy, savvy?"

"Don't tell me what I should do, loser," Kanda snapped, flipped his phone shut and terminating the call.

He had gotten sick of hearing the brat's voice. _If you truly care about her_—of course he cared about her, was he a douche bag? Maybe he was at times, but after the many times he was a fucking martyr to save her life, there wasn't anyone who was qualified to doubt him at all.

So what was he supposed to do now? Shit the brat had made him feel like he _had_ to do something. Obviously there was no way he was going to say it back to her like she did, because well, he just wasn't. Hug her? He didn't really do hugging because it was just plain touchy feely and embarrassing and ugh. Kissing seemed the most viable option now but he wondered if that was a little fast—after all, Reiichi seemed to have some sort of _issue _with her first kiss—fucking asshole Noah—and wait, was he actually doubting himself?

This was priceless.

_Kanda Yuu_ was doubting himself.

* * *

"Help me," was the first thing Kanda said to her next morning.

Reiichi was trying so hard to _keep calm and carry on_, taking a deep breath before she opened her door to greet the new day. She had barely gotten any sleep just thinking about the fact that she confessed, and it had been bugging her mind ever since she woke up. She had chanted to herself to mentally prepare herself for that would come this morning—he might pretend nothing happened yesterday, or he could start to avoid her or he could maybe…

Well, all those thoughts flew out of her mind the moment she swung her door open and Kanda was staring right back at her. On reflex, she nearly slammed the door closed right back in his face, but he seemed to have anticipated that and caught the door.

Kanda cocked his head towards the black skinny tie he dangled from his fingers. "I can't put that on,"

Reiichi was stuck declining and accepting, but she agreed in the end, since it was just a request. She did wonder why he needed to wear a tie anyway, but she figured it must have been part of his fashion style for today or something. She took the piece of fabric, lifting up his collar and brushing his shirt straight.

The reason why she wanted to decline was because she knew just standing close to him was pushing her heart on overdrive. She could practically hear her own heartbeat as she flicked the tie around his neck, trying to concentrate on her task, but failing just a bit when she realized she could practically feel him breathing. Was he staring at her? She didn't know, didn't want to find out, and she screwed up the tie tying sequence for the second time.

It was ridiculous. Why was she in such a mess before him?

She meant to tell Kanda to just not wear the tie at all when she looked at and realized he was smirking at her. Smirking! So he just wanted to see her act like an idiot? Ugh. If she wasn't blushing from the start, then she was flushed now. She frowned at his smug expression and quickly tied the tie correctly this time, pulling it hard and sharp so that it choked him, just a little.

Hmph.

She released him when she was done and brushed past him, still scowling with her face red. The nerve of him, honestly. Kanda's deep throated chuckle behind her made her burn further in embarrassment.

* * *

"Kanda, will you stop smirking at me!" Reiichi resisted the urge to throw something at him, preferably something hard.

She hadn't expected him to tease her about liking him, okay, maybe she did, but it wasn't the point now. The point was that she wasn't prepared for the consequences of telling him about her feelings, to which he was taking advantage of greatly. He hadn't said a word about yesterday to her yet, but the look in his eyes of that he_ knew_ was enough to remind her that yes, he knew.

He kept doing all sorts of things that were very bad for her heart—brushing their fingers, stepping too close, giving her that_ look_—intentionally or unintentionally she didn't know, but he kept smirking at her! It was like he was entirely amused at how she was acting around him—and the worst part was that she was most probably a masochist—because she rather _liked_ him teasing her.

"Rei-chan~!" Lavi jumped at her the moment they made it to the basement. "Hmm, you look really happy today!" he beamed, "Why, is Yuu paying special attention to you or what?"

"He's not!" she denied furiously, unable to stop the dark blush—_holy shit_ Lavi was so going to find out now.

He laughed, patting her back. "Chill, I'm just playing ya," then he grinned. "Because Yuu_ always_ pays special attention to you!"

Reiichi tried to make Lavi shut up because she could practically _feel _Kanda smirking behind her again, fighting to cover his mouth to make him stop talking.

"Don't be so rough, Rei-chan," her cousin chided, catching her hands in midair easily, and then he peered closer at her. "You're really red, you know," he commented, causing her to blush even harder. "Are you sick?" he pressed his forehead against hers, scrutinizing.

"Idiot," Kanda snorted, shaking his head. How big a moron could Lavi get, honestly?

"I'm fine, Lavi," Reiichi pushed her cousin away, trying to cool down. Thank god for stupid people.

"If you say so," her cousin squinted at her one last time, and then glomped Kanda from the back. "What was that Yuu? Were you grinning to yourself?"

"No, I fucking wasn't," Kanda slapped Lavi away from his back. "Go away,"

"Hmm…normally you'd be a bit more vicious, Yuu-chan," Lavi observed. "You're in a good mood today,"

"Am I ever not?" the Japanese replied sarcastically.

"See what I mean!" the male redhead insisted. "Rei-chan, don't you think he's acting a bit weird today?"

"If you mean that he's smirking too much, then yes," she huffed, brushing past them both to head for her workroom. She was going to finish the outfit by today for fitting.

"Yuu…." That left only one person to annoy. "Tell me," Lavi whined.

"Tell you what?" Kanda ignored him, heading toward the kitchen.

"Tell me what happened between both of you," the redhead followed behind him like a lost puppy.

"Nothing happened," Kanda said nonchalantly.

"Yuu, you were grinning to yourself. If that wasn't the most _disturbing_ thing I've ever seen in my life, then I don't know what is," Lavi raised an eyebrow, taking a seat at the table and watching Kanda rummage around. "I've already have my will written out because I _know _today is the end of the universe,"

"You were hallucinating, usagi. Do not blame that on me,"

Lavi sniffed. "Fine, since you don't want to admit that, then tell me why Rei-chan was blushing so hard just now. She never does that!"

"I thought you thought she was sick," the model paused suddenly.

"What am I, an idiot?" Lavi gave him an unimpressed look.

Kanda looked back with just as much seriousness. "Yes,"

"Yuu-chan!" the redhead cried indignantly. "I'm being serious!"

"So was I,"

Lavi pouted. "_Whatever_," he sniffed, obviously upset that his intelligence was questioned. "So, why is she acting so strange? It's not really like before, but it's still not the same. I dunno, she seems more….loosened up? Is that the term for this?"

"I don't know,"

"Yes, you do,"

"No, I don't,"

"You do!"

"Not,"

"Do!"

"Not!"

"DO!"

"NOT!"

"NOT!"

"D—FUCK WILL YOU CUT IT OUT?" Kanda snapped, annoyed for falling for the oldest trick in the book.

"We can go another round," Lavi beamed brightly at him. "Or you can tell me,"

"Fine, fucking fine," the Japanese conceded. "We finished our talk yesterday,"

"And…" the other prompted.

"And that was it," Kanda stared back blankly.

"Yuu! That's not good enough!" Lavi whined.

"You wanted the reason and I gave you the reason. I'm not giving you anymore than that," the model declared. "If you want to know, go ask her yourself,"

"Huh. You two are keeping secrets like you guys are lovers. I want to know too!"

"No one cares," Kanda rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to guess," Lavi huffed, crossing his arms on the table. "Rei-chan confessed to you, that's why she was blushing just now, and you are in a good mood because you secretly like her back!"

Kanda had to wonder where the _hell _Lavi got his logic from, because it was downright freaky.

"…..The fuck?" he could only stare back incredulously.

Lavi beamed brightly for a few moments, but then he mistook the look Kanda was giving him and slumped down again. "Hmm, it wasn't eh? Well, it was a random guess,"

Kanda just looked away, having nothing to comment.

* * *

In the evening, Reiichi beckoned Kanda over to her workroom for the fitting session. She was pretty proud of her last piece of outfit that she was making for him in this series—and she was a little sad that at. Proud because she knew Kanda was going to like this one, and indeed, he didn't have any complaints when he put it on.

Kanda liked how natural this outfit was to him, and he merely nodded in satisfaction when he stood in front of the mirror, feeling a little surprised that for once, he wasn't going to bitch about anything. Maybe it was the outfit, or maybe he was really just in a good mood.

Fitting was quick—she practically knew his body inside out after all and that sounded a tad bit weird—and soon she was helping to undress him because his cast kept getting in the way when it was in the sling. Yes, he wore the sling today because she forced him to after yesterday.

It wasn't really a romantic affair since there was just so much cloth in this outfit that she was busier carefully gathering the outfit to ensure that it didn't touch the ground it case it dirtied to notice that he started to look at her in the particular way after he got his pants on that made her heart beat rapidly.

"W-what?" she asked, pausing.

Kanda didn't reply, but continued to gaze at her intensely, making sure that her eyes were locked with his. One step forward. She didn't move. Good. Another step. Right now he was so close to her that he could feel how little she was breathing at the moment, and that thought made him smirk inwardly. She was so much more affected by him than he thought—he wondered why he never noticed this before—and he really wanted to see what else he could do.

Leaning down, he watched as she automatically shut her eyes, and he brushed his lips past the corners of hers lightly, ghosting a slight breath. Her lips trembled, and he pulled back almost a second later, still watching her every movement that she opened her eyes later and just stood there in shock.

Blink.

Blink.

Bli—

Reiichi's eyes widened almost comically, staggering a step back. Slowly she raised one hand to her lips, still in shock. It was almost _endearing_—but Kanda doesn't use words like endearing—that she was so innocent about something like what he just did to her that it sent some sort of_ thrill_ coursing through his veins.

Her cheeks started to turn pink, and she turned away from him suddenly, placing his outfit on the table. "Don't play with my feelings, Kanda," she whispered, folding his outfit and refusing to look at him.

"So you _did_ mean it," Kanda said, following behind her. He noticed her hands were shaking rather badly, but he couldn't see her face.

"What do you mean by that?" she demanded, still not looking at him. "I always mean what I say!"

"Because_ I_ thought you didn't like me that way!" He just couldn't believe it. Could you truly blame him?

"Well, _I_ thought so too!" she pressed on the cloth, hard. "This is why I didn't want to tell you, Kanda," she sighed quietly. "Do you understand now? I can't act the same way around you anymore and we _can't _go back to normal—"

It was hardly a kiss in Kanda's opinion. All he did was to turn her around and press his lips directly onto hers, perhaps for a second or two, and then he released her. The workroom was so quiet, he could hear almost hear their heartbeats. Or maybe it was just his, because it was practically resounding in his head. He just stared at her for the next minute, not exactly knowing what to do because_ that_ was purely on impulse.

"What…was that?" Reiichi murmured finally, breaking the silence.

"What did you think it was? "

She didn't answer, looking down at her shoes. "Like I said, Kanda," she managed, after some time. "If you're not serious then _please _stop it,"

Kanda sighed in frustration. Did she not get it? What else did she want him to do? Wave a banner? "Who said I wasn't?"

Reiichi snapped her head up, surprised. "But..but..." she stuttered, unable to get out her words."You are?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" he crossed his arms—arm—whatever.

"But you kissed some other girl on Saturday!"

On Saturday? The club. Right. Fuck, she saw that? Now, was that guilt he was feeling? "That's…" he trailed off, trying to remember why he did something like that. He was kind of drunk. "She's not important," he decided finally when he actually found the answer, but it was too embarrassing, too _stupid_ to say.

"Right. So how do I know that I am?" Reiichi just had to know, because if there was a chance that he really liked her back—

"I did not just save your life three fucking times to be asked that question," Kanda pointedly looked at her, scowling. "But if you really want to know," he sighed, already regretting that he actually considered to say this. "I thought she was you," once the words left his mouth, he grimaced at how cheesy, _disgusting_, urgh, it was.

But maybe it was worth it, because Reiichi was blinking at him surprised, and she was curling her lips to try and stop smiling but it was failing rather terribly. Her eyes darted to the floor in an obvious sign of embarrassment and she twisted her fingers, not knowing what to say to that. She shuffled her feet rather awkwardly, a dark heavy blush on her features. "Oh..."

So, he liked her back?

Maybe?

She dared to raise her head and peek at him, and she was rather surprised. Kanda was still looking at her (that hadn't changed from the moment he stepped in the room with her) but he what he had on was a _real smile_.

It wasn't one of those smirks he kept giving her all day, nor was it a cheap imitation of what Lavi insisted he had seen a few days ago. No, this was a true blue smile, complete with a faint pink dust over his cheeks. It was a little awkward, as if he wasn't used to it—which she bet he wasn't, and if she dared say it, he looked really _cute_—but knowing Kanda he would deny it—so she settled for _dashing_ instead. Just knowing that she had the privilege to witness something no one else did, and it was directed at her—she was incredibly happy.

"Kanda, um, I think you might want to wear your shirt," she pointed out, suddenly noticing that he was still half naked.

"Why, am I making you _uncomfortable_?" Kanda raised an eyebrow, smirking.

She remembered the exact same words so many weeks ago, right here in the same workroom. She frowned, throwing his shirt on the table at him. "Yes you are," she muttered bluntly.

Kanda shuffled around with his shirt, hating the part where he had to take off his sling and insert his casted arm slowly through the sleeve—too slow, too inefficient—when Reiichi gave a small sigh and went over to hold the shirt for him, easily putting it on him and starting to button up. Her hands reached the third button from the top and she paused, meeting his eyes.

One feature of his that she had grown to appreciate was his eyes—sure it wasn't as light blue or sparkly, but it was dark, mysterious, and always made her shiver under his intense gaze. And then she scrutinized his oriential pretty face, one that, unfortunately, was prettier than hers, and then it sort of hit her that she liked top model _Kanda Yuu_ and that maybe _Kanda Yuu_ liked her back.

_Shit._

These kind of things don't just happen! She wanted to scream, because he had some god like status while she didn't, and she didn't care about that, but everyone else in the world did and—

"YUU-CHAN!"

Reiichi jumped in shock, staring mouth gape at Lavi who decided that he was feeling bored by himself outside. Actually she had expected him to barge in earlier, but thankfully, _thankfully_, he didn't. She'd have to kill herself if that happened.

Lavi was pointing at them both with equal shock, unable to believe what he really saw.

Get this: Kanda was leaning down to close the distance between him and his COUSIN—

GET REAL.

"Yuu—y-you…you…" he just mumbled, fingers tingling with excitement. "YOU WERE ACTUALLY GOING TO KISS REI-CHAN! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU—"

"SHUT UP!" Kanda immediately scowled, the mood ruined. "I WASN'T GOING TO—"

"When?" Lavi jumped over ecstatic, much to both of their horror. "How?" he demanded, grabbing Reiichi by the shoulders. "I thought you were never going to like him!" then he turned to Kanda, and did the same thing. "And you! You always don't tell me how you feel about her! Why do I find out like this?"

In Kanda's defense, he really wasn't going to kiss Reiichi. He was just curious why she stopped buttoning his shirt halfway and peered closer to ask her why, but of course something dramatic and equally stupid came out of the usagi's mouth. He explained this rather calmly, watching with suppressed relief how Lavi's started to pout at the end.

"So you guys weren't doing anything," he huffed, annoyed that he got excited over nothing.

"Did you actually expect us to do anything?" Reiichi's sarcastic reply added in to the effect.

"Well, Yuu-chan," Lavi recovered pretty quickly back to his obnoxious tone. "You could've just leaned a little more forwards you know. Rei-chan will be awoken by her prince charming's kiss—" he winked, striking a thumbs up and dodging the whack that Reiichi aimed at him.

Well one thing Kanda could definitely understand, as he watched Reiichi chase her cousin out of the room, was that they would _never _let Lavi know about any of this.

* * *

**Owari.**

The skirt outfit of _Prada_ is actually real. It was for _Menswear of Fall/Winter 08-09_, I kid you not.

And so Kanchi finally do have a relatively smooth ride towards their relationship. I figured they went through too much trouble already, and anyway both of them are frank if they have to be. I think I like,_ killed_ Kanda's character or something ;_;

This fic is sadly coming to an end though…. Maybe two more chapters?


	32. Chapter 31

**-Imitation Black-**

**

* * *

**

Lavi was feeling rather flabbergasted if he did say so himself. He reached the office in the morning, bright and chirpy and expecting his hard-assed best friend to be waiting at the door of the elevator to bitch about how he was_ late_—for 4 minutes and 23 seconds—even though he wasn't needed at all till the shooting began. Only, Kanda wasn't there.

He knew Kanda and Reiichi where somewhere in the basement, seeing that they were always early, and he noticed with his photographic memory that one particular photo frame that was hung along the corridor was slightly crooked thanks to Reiichi always touching it on habit when she walked past (one of her odd tendencies) and he corrected it back to its original place (one of his odd tendencies). They were here, he knew it.

Walking down the corridor, he passed by the kitchen as did a double take when he spotted his cousin and best friend seated across each other nonchalantly, both reading the newspapers quietly. It looked rather unsuspicious, but the smug grin that threatened to slip from Kanda's face and Reiichi's slightly irked but flushed one was way too suspicious.

Something going on between the two.

"Morning Rei-chan~" Lavi beamed, bouncing over to his cousin to hug her by the neck, rubbing his cheek against hers.

"Morning," she mumbled and smiled at him, but he noticed her still sending Kanda those threatening glances.

Kanda scoffed and rolled his eyes, opening his mouth, "Usagi, you're—"

"—late," everyone finished that sentence because it was just too predictable.

"You need another phrase, Yuu," Lavi grinned. "But, I have to point out that you seem even happier than yesterday, if that's even possible," he quipped, keeping his hug on Reiichi from the back.

"Shut up," but Lavi caught Kanda glancing at Reiichi's face once, and having this little smirk. "I'm not happy,"

"You are!" the redhead cried, and tightened his arms, nearly choking his cousin in his excitement. "What happened between the two of you, huh?" he demanded, It seemed like they were communicating in their own little world, and Lavi just left a little left out. He wanted to know too.

"Why are you being so…so…I don't know...in_ love_ or something?"

To make things even weirder, Kanda just looked at him flatly. "Because I'm waiting for the Moyashi to come,"

What?

What?

"WHAT?" There were many times which Lavi confused people for the hell of it and he took great pleasure in doing so, but now he was being very thrown off by the person he thought he knew rather well. "You're…in love with Allen-chan?"

Reiichi gave a rather undignified snort as she tried not to die laughing at Kanda's ticked off expression.

"I'd _love_ to skewer him, if that's what you mean," Kanda snorted, muttering angrily. "Goddamn nosy son of a bitch—"

"Then?" Lavi frowned, not getting it at all. "I don't get what you're trying to say,"

"I don't want to tell you,"

Lavi henceforth concluded that this _something _he was trying to find out was something he really wanted to know. Since when had Kanda ever played mind games with him? Never!

"Yuu, you're being _reallyyyyy_ weird which leads me to assume you realized you love Rei-chan or something—"

"Hey guys," Allen appeared at the doorway, scaring everyone with his sudden appearance. "Sorry I'm a little late, those trees you requested couldn't fit in the elevator, so I got guys to bring it down the stairs, Reiichi,"

"Oh, thanks," Reiichi smiled, waving Lavi off her.

"A _tree_? You actually brought a fucking tree?" Kanda turned to stare at Allen incredulously who looked slightly amused.

"You're not getting deaf, are you, BaKanda?" the other boy raised an eyebrow. "Trees. As in, more than one,"

"No one cares,"

"Apparently you do," Allen quipped. "And yes, I did bring them. After all, your _girlfriend_ requested it,"

Pause.

It was just a split second of a pause, but clearly everyone in the room froze the moment the word slipped from Allen's mouth. Kanda's eyes widened because he forgot that Allen knew, and Reiichi was just shocked since the younger boy didn't sound like he was joking and at all, and Lavi…well, he stopped _breathing_.

"I'm not his girlfriend," Reiichi stated finally, pushing off the rock still Lavi who had frozen in shock and walking up to Allen to flick his forehead.

"It was just a joke," Allen clutched his head, whining. "Lavi always cracks those kind of jokes,"

"That's because he's Lavi, and you aren't," the designer snorted, turning the young boy around to march him out. "Let's go take care of the set, hmm?"

After the other two had disappeared from the kitchen, that left the remaining two boys. Lavi was slumped in one of the chairs not really moving. After a few seconds, Kanda got up, snorting rather unimpressed. "Loser," he muttered to Lavi, rolling his eyes before he exited the room.

Well, Kanda was brushing of the "joke" like no big deal, which would lead him to assume that Allen really was kidding, but he noticed that Kanda did not deny the two times he had purposely tried to aggravate the other which Kanchi connotations, nor did he deny anything when Allen said his line.

But…they couldn't have…or could they? He knew they had gotten closer over the weeks, and his matchmaking part was purely for fun and well, his own entertainment, and he thought that it would take a much longer while before they actually got together. He didn't doubt himself (he was _Lavi_), but he was realistic, at least. He knew his cousin was slow to fall in love, and Kanda just didn't _do_ love.

If that had changed… well… there were other things he wanted them to do now.

Like, get married!

Well, the first step would be to find out whether his theory was right or not. Perhaps one more plan was in order.

* * *

"Wow," Lavi stared, speechless. "Just…wow,"

"Will get over it and do your camera thing?" Kanda crossed his arms, scowling.

"But…but this is amazing!" The photographer sparkled. "Rei-chan, I believe you got this theme down to a T,"

"Thanks," Reiichi smiled, leaning against her chair in satisfaction. "I believe Allen did great as well,"

"Why thank you," Allen beamed at her pleasantly, at which he caught Kanda glaring at him.

In his credit, he did do great—more than great in fact. Who else would be able to bring down cherry blossom trees which were still blooming, all entirely real of course, at the end of summer? Who else, honestly? Only Cross enterprise.

The set Reiichi had requested was actually a mini tranquil garden in spring, complete with a little pond and a walking bridge over it. Yes, the koi swimming in the water was real too. The cherry blossom trees he had installed in enhanced the overall image—it was peaceful, beautiful, nearly romantic. Nearly, because it would be romantic if Kanda would stop glaring at him. Allen stuck a childish tongue out at the other just for fun.

The Japanese scoffed with a head toss, long hair whipping a little in motion and fluttering down to frame his face delicately. Reiichi had requested no makeup for him (and thus Fou was absent) which he was rather glad with—going for the natural nude look suited what he was wearing anyway. What he wore today was decidedly traditional and Japanese—a male kimono. It was purely black, inky black, even darker than his hair. The_ najajuban_, the inner wear, and the obi that was wrapped securely around his waist were the stripes of white. The wide sleeves made sure to cover his cast. It was made with entirely with silk, and it felt really comfortable.

He gazed out towards the pond, one arm touching the railing of the bridge loosely, pretending to be deep in thought while Lavi started taking pictures. From the overall picture, he looked like he was in some period drama, a samurai dressed in formal garb and acting all melancholic. He had to agree with Lavi though, that this was absolutely perfect for _Pride_.

His Pride.

Reiichi knew and understood. She knew that although he had an aversion to his childhood, he was still brought up in a traditional family, and it was, _innate_, for him. He still liked traditional things—and their house was full of them: the low table in the living room, the cushions that were meant to squat on, his odd bias for soba and Japanese cuisine in general, the dojo, _kendo_, and most of all, Mugen, his sword.

Mugen was belonged to his grandfather, but it was passed down to his mother and eventually willed to him. He didn't know if his aunt knew, and he didn't care. Mugen was the one who opened many doors for him—first, kendo—which practically made him_ live _again—then after, modeling—something he was good at and was his current life now. He never told Reiichi any of this, but if she could guess somewhere along these lines that this was his _pride_—

"He really likes it, you know," Allen murmured to Reiichi at the back, patting her arm.

"Yeah," she smiled, and the white haired boy suddenly understood what Lenalee meant by the "shinning aura of love" because she looked content, happy, and well, in _love_. With Kanda. Ugh. That thought wasn't as nice as the previous few, sadly. The smile slipped a bit suddenly. "Allen, about in the morning…did Lenalee tell you?"

"Yes, she did…" Allen answered cautiously. "I was under the impression that Lavi of all people who have heard about it first,"

Reiichi raised an eyebrow. "You_ do_ know what will happen when Lavi finds out, right?"

"Well, he…" he trailed off. "Okay, I see your point," he chuckled. "But I have to warn you that you can't hide it from him forever, given his tendency to poke into things, especially, your love life,"

"Thanks for the advice," she stated blandly. "But I'm going to try anyway,"

"Smile, Yuu, come on!" Lavi was begging in front of them, shaking his camera in protest. "S.M.I.L.E—SMILE!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Kanda turned on his glare instead, starting to get annoyed. "I'm_ not_ going smile because it's not fucking needed!"

"It's not," the photographer agreed, "But it'll be nice~! Please? Make your fangirls faint? What do you say?"

"No,"

"Aww, come on!" Lavi stamped his feet on the ground childishly and whirled around. "Rei-chan! Ask your boyfriend to smile! He's so stubborn!"

"For making that comment, I won't," Reiichi deadpanned, crossing her arms.

Allen only shook his head in amusement.

* * *

After much begging and whining and making a huge racket, Kanda didn't smile in the end. What a waste of energy, Lavi thought as he frowned to himself. He took one last picture of Kanda plucking a cherry blossom from one of the trees and flicked through the other pictures he took with his digital camera. They were beautiful, of course, since _he _was the photographer. But then again, his best friend was looking particularly pleased and it showed through the pictures. Pictures never lie, and that was one reason why he liked taking photos too.

Suddenly an idea struck him before Kanda was about to step off the set.

"Rei-chan, go stand next to Yuu," Lavi waved his cousin over.

"What for?" she blinked, startled out of conversation with Allen.

"It's your last set, isn't it?" he asked incredulously, as though it was preposterous that she herself didn't think of his brilliant idea. "For momento's sake, come and take a picture with Yuu! You can have evidence that you _oh my god_ worked with _Kanda Yuu_!" he ended cheerily on a high falsetto.

She looked at him, unimpressed. "I don't think that's necessary, considering that I _live_ with this particular _Kanda Yuu_,"

"Come on," he begged, inwardly cursing the fact that the two people he loved the most were the two most stubborn people in the world. "Give our readers a peek at the designer behind it all, won't you?"

As if that was supposed to convince her. "All the more,_ no_,"

"Please, Rei-chan? I don't have a photo of two of you together," Lavi came over to drag her, while she clutched onto Allen to prevent being pulled away. "It'll be _adorable_, I promise!"

"And that's supposed to make me want to take a photo with him?"

"Yes?" he gave her puppy dog eyes that never worked on her. Never. "Oh come on, I'm not asking you to hug him or anything. Just go stand next to him," he pried her hands away from Allen who scuttled away to prevent being pulled into the mess. "Unless of course, you're too_ shy_ because it's Yuu we're talking about—"

"Rei," Kanda called suddenly, irritated. "Just…come here, or he won't shut the hell up,"

She shared a glance with Kanda for a few seconds, eventually sighing and pushing Lavi away. "Fine," she frowned, walking towards the set herself.

"Hey, why do you only listen to your_ koibito_, huh?" Lavi pouted, feeling offended.

"I'm not even going to answer you anymore," she muttered as she stepped on the bridge, Kanda immediately reaching forwards to pull her up.

It felt weird to be on the set for once instead of watching it from afar. The scent of the cherry blossoms immediately engulfed her, and she relaxed under the sweet and calming smell. She was right—Allen had done a perfect job—because she just felt like she stepped into a garden during springtime, and the atmosphere was totally different from being out of the set. In front of her, Kanda was in his outfit looking more the part than she did even though she was wearing normal clothing. She couldn't help but feel a surge of pride when he just stood there looking extremely_ good_ in the kimono.

His hair was down and flowing smoothly over the contour of his back, and it just looked so perfect that it seemed unreal. His oriental pretty face just made her heart beat faster as she stepped closer, suddenly feeling self conscious that she was near him. He gave her a barest tint of a smile—but it wasn't, because his face just looked blank—and she turned towards Lavi.

"Huh," the photographer snorted, readying his camera as the two people stood side by side. "Yuu, put your arm around her—"

"I thought you said no touching!" Kanda growled, tensing.

"Did I say that? No, I didn't. What are you guys, kindergarten kids?" Lavi scoffed. "You are a pro, aren't you?"

Kanda took it as a great insult. With eyes narrowed, he slipped his right arm around Reiichi's waist, hand brushing over the curve of her body to rest against her hip, pulling her closer toward him. Reiichi stood still in mortification and shock the moment he actually touched her—note: in the presence of her COUSIN—and stopped breathing when his fingers sent tingles up her spine. She looked aside, counting to ten slowly to try not to blush, but her hands were trembling so hard she was sure someone was going to notice. Kanda's hand squeezed her lightly, and she just knew he knew what this was doing to her, that jerk.

"There, happy?" the model huffed.

"Very," Lavi beamed, winking at them both. "I said she won't hug you, but _you_ can hug her,"

"Whatever," Kanda rolled his eyes, staring flatly at the camera. "Are you going to take it now?"

"Already did," the photographer laughed at both their shocked expressions. "Okay, this time, _smile_,"

It was kind of difficult to smile naturally, considering she was the closest to Kanda ever since…she met him. The pressure of his arm and the warmth generated by his hand on her was feeling too comfortable now and she knew she was probably leaning more towards him than she should. She actually felt for a second like they were a couple—and that led to more embarrassing thoughts that she tried to quell down before her face showed it. She spotted Allen at the back, shooting her a thumbs up and she smiled at that.

"Good," Lavi checked the camera. "One more," he insisted despite the growl that Kanda let out. "Now…kiss,"

"Lavi, I will break your neck," Reiichi threatened, very tempted to step off the bridge to kick him.

"Fine," her cousin groused. "Last one," he called, and he snapped the picture. "..and done. Now that wasn't so hard, wasn't it?"

The two people on set sighed simultaneously, rolling their eyes. Kanda released his arm around her and she missed it the moment it left, but she immediately changed her mind when he smirked at her. She glared at him, a pink tint to her cheeks and stalked towards Allen. Kanda shot a glare at Allen who smiled innocently right back.

Lavi was missing out on all that because he was too busy scrutinizing the pictures that he took. The first one was a candid shot, wherein Kanda was giving a dead bored stare but deep in those dark eyes he noticed that Kanda looked like he didn't mind one bit touching his cousin. Reiichi was looking towards the side away from Kanda. She looked a little embarrassed and particularly _shy_—a small smile on her lips that she was trying to suppress.

The second one looked picture perfect, like it was them lingering about peacefully in the park. His best friend still_ wasn't_ smiling, the stupid guy, but he did look, well, content, at least. That was something. Reiichi gave one of her usual smiles, and Lavi had to smile right back because they just looked so entirely _cute_ together.

The last one was probably his favourite, even though it was right after his cousin threatened to bodily harm him. Maybe Reiichi hadn't noticed it herself, but she was blushing right there, and Kanda had noticed it, for his eyes had slid over so slightly towards her, and he had a smug expression on his features.

There was just no question about it.

Lavi knew.

Oh, he_ knew_.

Pictures never lie.

* * *

Time flew by quicker than Reiichi had expected. It was already Friday, and she was completely done with Lavi's Seven Deadly Sins project. _Mugen_, the magazine, not Kanda's sword, would only be printed out by Sunday, so she was rather free at the moment before the press and other realities of life settled in. It felt good actually, knowing that she finished a project—a big one at that.

Other than that, life was back to normal. She went home with Kanda, ate dinner, spent some time together and all that. But it was different too. Ever since she confessed and he…sort of reciprocated that, she kept having the feeling of wanting to be near him more than ever. It just made her feel…better, she didn't really know, but at the same time, it was making her go insane. She did enjoy talking with him about the smallest things, but sometimes mere eye contact with him and she'd get all flustered.

He'd smirk knowingly, and she would huff, mortified inwardly, but she was happy because he liked her back. But at the same time, she just knew she was falling even harder and there was no sign of stopping. She began to wonder when it all started. Since when did all she ever think was about him? Since when was the idea of her liking him was even real? It was so scary to let her thoughts just wonder, because she wanted—oh she _wanted_—so much of him.

"Lenalee, I think I'm going crazy," she sighed into her phone, a desperate call to someone of the same gender who would understand after watching Kanda trail to his room after dinner. She had wanted him to do something because they were _alone_—no Lavi—and she was turning out to be more of a pervert than she knew.

"Calm down," Lenalee advised, "You're not crazy, Reiichi. Just, in love,"

"It may as well be the same thing," she complained, hugging her legs to her chest. "I can't believe I actually—urgh," she bemoaned, wanting to hit her head against the hard wall.

The younger girl's laughter trickled across the line. "It's normal. In fact, I'm wondering more on why Kanda-kun hasn't, well, taken any steps," she hummed. "I could ask him—"

"No," Reiichi insisted immediately. "Don't do anything,"

"But I haven't!" Lenalee exclaimed innocently. "Except to let Kanda-kun read that magazine to realize his own feelings—"

"What magazine?" the designer asked suspiciously.

"He didn't tell you?" the other started to giggle between her words. "It was some teenage girl magazine," the other explained. "On the ten signs to know if you're in love,"

"Kanda read that?" the redhead asked incredulously, because it sounded kind of _cliché_.

"He did!" Lenalee gushed. "Well, Allen did the miracle for me. It was absolutely _adorable_!" she squealed, excited. "You should have heard how Allen was saying Kanda-kun was blushing like a little school boy—"

"That sounds kind of bogus," she commented, unable to believe it, but she was grinning on her end.

"It's because of you, Reiichi," the other said, and she blushed hard.

"Well…" she mumbled, embarrassed.

Lenalee laughed. "You are so cute," she teased, amused. "Anyway, back to our topic, it's common to want things out of a relationship. Just let things flow,"

"But Lenalee…" Reiichi was almost whining. "I don't even know if we're in a relationship! We haven't really…talked about that," she admitted. "It's not that I don't want to, but what if Kanda doesn't…."

"You have to ask him that yourself, Reiichi," Lenalee answered gently.

"You're right, of course," the redhead sighed, drawing random circles on her bed. "But what if I'm liking him more than I should?"

"You _can't _like someone more than you should," the model commented.

"Lenalee," the other sounded a little frustrated. "I think about things, perhaps a little too much, I admit. But what if the more time we spend together the more he dislikes how I really am? Or what if I begin to stop liking him?" she rattled off random what-ifs that had been plaguing her mind. "Or if we're really in a relationship, then I can't imagine us arguing again, or being angry, or disappointed, or even breaking up—" she halted suddenly. "I don't even know if I even commit to a relationship in the first place,"

"Oh Reiichi…" Lenalee murmured, "There's no one who can answer these questions except you. It's okay to worry," she soothed. "It's okay to be scared. But remember this goes both ways….this affects Kanda-kun too,"

"I think I'm the only one," Reiichi muttered. "Did you know how _thick _Kanda's skin is? He nevergets awkward. I, on the other hand, my head goes blank when he just looks at me," she groaned. "We're not the same, Lenalee. I wouldn't be surprised if all that didn't even cross his mind,"

Lenalee chuckled. "Just let your worries go, Reiichi," she said finally. "Just love him with all your heart,"

* * *

In Lavi's opinion, his latest plan was absolutely fool-proof. It was so simple really. It just involved his victims and a small space. Yes, he was going to lock them into an enclosed area until they gave up and admitted that they were together—hah! He totally guessed it right—or did something ah, _steamy_, in the room since it was so predictable how enclosed spaces tended to work.

He had given both of them freedom yesterday—fine, he was out for stint somewhere else and thus did not manage to annoy either of them about it but technicalities don't matter—and so what better day to execute his plan as soon as possible?

He played it cool in the morning, bringing both of them out for breakfast, teasing them both—he suddenly noticed how easily his cousin got flustered nowadays—and returning back to their abode to watch yet another epic movie that he picked out.

"Don't you have anything else to do?" Kanda grumbled, nudging him by the foot lazily from his position on the couch. "Can we actually do something that doesn't involve watching another goddamn movie?"

"We can't do anything else considering your _delicate _state," Lavi huffed, looking pointedly at the model's arm in a sling. Hey, he was wearing that more often. "Rei-chan, could you get me a can of coke? It's in the store room," he asked offhandedly, busying himself with the remote to switch it to the correct setting.

Reiichi went to do as she was asked—what a nice cousin—and out of the corner of his eye he saw her disappear down the corridor, estimating the time she would take to reach the room. "Yuu, I just remembered the pack of coke is on top of the shelf," he commented, meanwhile taking out the disc and ambling towards the playstation in a show. "I don't think she can reach it. Go help her,"

"Che, she's tall enough," Kanda snorted, but he got up anyway and went in the correct direction.

What a nice friend.

HAH!

Lavi quickly dropped the disc back onto the table and stealthily followed behind Kanda, taking extra precaution not to be seen. He spotted Kanda entering the open door down the corridor.

* * *

"Coke…" Reiichi muttered to herself, scanning the small and cramped storeroom for red tin cans.

She was inside the room, yet there was only enough space for her to step in and turn a full circle without bumping or tripping over something. She never knew how much junk Kanda had in his storeroom, but upon closer inspection, she realized all the things kept in the room probably belonged to her cousin instead. Would Kanda own a golf set? She didn't think so.

The sound of a step behind her suddenly made her freeze, and body heat was pressed lightly against her back. "Usagi said it's on top of the shelf," his deep baritone nearly made her jump out of her own skin.

"Oh," she replied intelligently, eyes darting toward the top of the shelf that was packed with travel bags and miscellaneous items to see a six pack of coke cans stashed deep up there.

She tiptoed, flexing her fingers to try and reach her goal but it was just about an inch too far. "Could you…"

Before she could finish her question, a weight suddenly tumbled on her back and she clutched the set of drawers in front of her before she was knocked into it, and the door slammed shut behind. For a moment she didn't get what was going on, until she felt Kanda's hand on her shoulder steadying himself and the string of curses that was getting louder did she realized she was shut in the storeroom with Kanda. Judging by the way the knob refused to turn; she figured they were both locked in.

Lavi was so going to get it.

"FUCK! USAGI!" Kanda banged the door angrily. "LET US OUT GODDAMMIT!"

"Nope!" Lavi sang cheerfully outside. "Not until you two admit that you guys _lurve_ each other!"

"YOU'RE BEING FUCKING ANNOYING YOU—"

"If you guys won't say it, then you two can spend the entire day in there having some bonding time!" the other sounded, pleased, or proud, even. Yeah, Kanda was so fucking going to maim the little bugger.

"Lavi…I will kill you," Reiichi threatened. "I swear, I will _kill_ you,"

"No, you'll thank me later, Rei-chan!" her cousin brushed her off happily. "Imagine, you're all alone in this small area with the one you've been crushing on for _years_—"

"I haven't been crushing on him years—"

"—and think of all the things you can do to him now! While he's weak and defenseless, you can—"

"I'M NOT WEAK AND DEFENSELESS—"

"Psh, you two have no imagination at all. Come on, lots of couples get together after a romp in the closet,"

"That's the most unromantic thing I've never heard," Reiichi deadpanned. "Not to mention rather trashy,"

"Rei-chan," Lavi whined. "I'm trying to make the best out of your situation!"

"The best thing would be to LET US OUT!"

"No can do,"

"Fuck, usagi. Just…fuck you," Kanda banged the door one last time, irritated that he didn't see thing coming at all. He must have been fucking _blind_.

It was so cramped in the room that he was starting to feel claustrophobic. Both of them shifted around to try and get some space—in the end both of them were sideways against the door facing each other, his back against the wall. Their bodies were nearly touching, and there was this heated static of electricity between them that kept bothering him. The dim light above them was the only source of lighting.

"So…going to admit anything yet?" Lavi asked after a long stretch of silence in which he and Reiichi had resigned themselves to their fate.

"There's nothing to admit," Reiichi said calmly in response.

"Boo!" the other mocked across the door. "Well, since I'm not getting my answers, I'm going to watch the movie—"

"Don't you dare leave us here," Kanda growled.

"Oh, but I _do_," his friend sounded so smug, he wanted to tear the door down. "Perhaps I'll check on you guys one hour later?"

"Lavi—"

"Ta-ta!"

"LAVI!"

Reiichi sighed when there was no response. It was great, so damn great to be stuck in the storeroom with the one person who could manipulate her heartbeat just by _existing_. They just looked at each other not really knowing what else to do, since the door was the locked, there was no way to get out, and yes, they were stuck here for one hour. She could smell his cologne in such close proximity and it wasn't making her feel any better knowing that she was going to suffer this torture for one whole hour.

Oh god.

"Kanda, I think Lavi knows," she said quietly after a few minutes of contemplation.

"Tch, the punk is too obvious about it," the model agreed. "I'll drown the stupid beansprout—"

"Stop bullying Allen," she chided, but she couldn't help but wonder if someone had told Lavi or had her cousin found out himself.

"Che," Kanda leaned his head back, breathing deeply, annoyed that the air was becoming stuffy. "All of this is the brat's fault, indirectly or not,"

She looked at him curiously. "Are you talking about the magazine?"

"What magazine—" He stopped suddenly, squinting at her. "How do you know about that?" he demanded.

"Lenalee told me,"

"What did she tell you?" He asked cautiously, because on that fateful day, the brat acquired blackmail to which he would never live down.

"That you realized you…" Reiichi trailed off, looking away awkwardly. "um, _like _me," she ended the sentence with a slight mumble.

Kanda couldn't really deny that because it was true, but it wasn't any less embarrassing to hear it from Reiichi's mouth herself. He stared at the door, trying not to react in some drastic way. Like blushing. "If she wasn't a girl," he muttered, "I would push her down the stairs that meddling _bitch_—" Reiichi slapped his shoulder for the comment, glaring at little at him and he faltered off. "Tch,"

A short length of silence regained wherein the two occupants shuffled their feet awkwardly—actually it was just Reiichi since Kanda was being stoic or whatever—before Reiichi remembered something Lenalee had told her.

"That reminds me…" She reached for his left arm and pulled it gently towards her hands, fingers brushing back the sling a little to expose the blue cloth that he wrapped around the cast. She found a safety pin that held the cloth together, ready to undo it when Kanda jerked his arm back, clutching it protectively.

"W-What are you doing?" his actually sounded panicky for once, and that made her curiosity flare even more.

"Lenalee said there was something on your cast that I should see," she replied, reaching for his arm again.

Actually Lenalee said that if she wanted to see Kanda being all flustered and unsure—for once, instead of her—she should see whatever that was written on his cast. She couldn't really comprehend what would cause that, so she decided to try it for herself. She was starting to believe Lenalee considering the way Kanda was vehemently trying to deny her access to his cast.

"There's nothing," he insisted, keeping a hand tightly on the sling.

"Saying that just makes it all the more suspicious," she cocked her head briefly. "I'm curious,"

"Well, didn't the pig die because of that shit?"

"The cat, Kanda," she chuckled, but she kept her concentration on his arm to think of a plan she could form.

The storeroom as said many times before, was small, and so there wasn't any space for Kanda to dodge. Neither was there much use to defend with one arm considering Reiichi had two full working ones. She grappled with him for a while, not caring if she was practically molesting him at certain times in a bid to reach the arm. When he finally raised the arm entirely to hold it out of her reach, she stepped on his food lightly.

"Ow—woman, the fuck—" Kanda winced, lifting his leg to flex the abused foot.

She took the chance when he winced and lowered his arm to unpin the cloth, swiping it away in an instant. To Kanda's bad luck, since he had raised his arm before, the sling was off his neck and easily dropped to the floor in a traitorous movement the moment the cloth underneath was taken away. He grabbed the part where those godforsaken words were, covering it before Reiichi could see.

"Come on, Kanda," Reiichi dropped the cloth in favour of trying to pry his hand off. "I know there's something there,"

"Why are you so goddamn interested in that?" he argued, feeling his hand been torn away by two of hers.

Saying that she wanted to see him being _cute_ was probably not a good thing to say, so she didn't. "Because you are hiding it like there's something interesting,"

After a few minutes of hand grappling, Reiichi finally managed to get a slip under his hand and tugged, revealing the message bit by bit.

"Rei.." she read aloud to Kanda's discomfort. "If I….know….what….Kanda, stop resisting!"

"You stop it!" he hissed, and for once in her life she saw that he was actually panicking rather badly, complete with wide eyes and dilated pupils, and he was a little flushed, lips pressed into a taunt line. It was really a different feeling, knowing for once that it wasn't her who was like this but _him_ instead—and she started to smirk just a little at that.

She tugged his hand with more force than before, deadly curious about the entirety of the message. "What…love…is…" she continued on, much to Kanda's displeasure.

"Woman!" he finally growled, unable to take it anymore. "If I show you, will you shut up?"

"I guess so," she shrugged, smiling at how an uncomfortable awkward expression passed his features , like he was regretting what he suggested. "So…are you?" she asked when there was a linger of silence in which Kanda's face turned _red_—for the first time she was seeing this!—and he looked away from her, lifting off his right hand reluctantly from the cast.

Reiichi immediately pulled it towards her to get a better view, the other hand catching his hand that darted back to cover the words on reflex.

_Rei,_

_If I know what love is, it's because of you._

Oh. Well. She stared at it, the words processing through her mind slowly.

"J-just to make it clear," Kanda grounded out eventually when she didn't say anything. "I didn't write that,"

"I know," she mumbled as her own face started to heat up nonetheless. She knew Kanda would never write it because it was romantic, kind of sweet and actually rather overloaded on_ cheese_—to which she shuddered a little, but she couldn't deny she actually liked it. She chanced to look at Kanda who immediately averted his eyes when he caught her looking at him, and she smiled bashfully at how flustered he was, I repeat, for the first time she was seeing this.

"Why are you grinning like an idiot?" Kanda frowned at her, not liking how the tables had turned and he was getting a taste of how she usually felt.

Reiichi stepped on his foot lightly against for that comment, and he scoffed to cover his residue embarrassment, cursing Lenalee who wrote the words, Lavi who locked them in, and the brat, just because.

A few more minutes of silence passed, wherein the tension started to up a little by little considering they could practically hear each other breathing. With much difficulty Reiichi bent down to get his forgotten sling and cloth and helped him wear it back on, smiling a little to herself when she saw those words again. The sling was easily slipped over his neck, and she adjusted the strap, smoothing the front of his shirt, but then retracted suddenly when she realized she just liked touching him.

She didn't know how long they both had been crammed in here, but being in such close proximity was driving her crazy. Maybe it was Lavi's fault that he had suggested they do something rather questionable in the room—seeing that they are _alone _(mega hint)—because she actually _wanted _Kanda to do something.

But he didn't. To tell the truth she had expected him to be all "physical" considering he had made out with that girl on Saturday—yes, she was still feeling rather irked with that no matter the circumstance—like it was nothing, she couldn't understand why he hadn't tried anything with her since Wednesday other than purposely spiking her heartbeat to a ridiculously fast tempo many times which she just knew she was going to have a heart attack one day. It was torture, bringing her hopes up that he was going to do something then he would saunter away in that way of his with that smug smirk, leaving her behind burning in embarrassment.

Did she really like him way more than he did? That thought was dangerous, because she didn't know if it was only her that was falling so hard, so fast. She knew he did like her back, but well, was it as strong as her? Would he like her exclusively, like…a boyfriend? In fact, what were they?

"What are we, Kanda?" she asked quietly to break the silence.

He shifted a little. "What do you mean?"

"As in," she licked her lips nervously. "Are we…together? Or not?"

Kanda kept silent, and he kept silent for too long that she felt the need to say something. "I've thought about it…you may like me, maybe, but I realized you may not want a relationship. I mean, you're _Kanda Yuu_ and I'm—" she faltered off, breathing in deeply. "Anyway, there's commitment to think about and what if…what if I stop liking you?"

"That's impossible," he sounded skeptical, and she nearly laughed at that.

"You sound so sure,"

"Because it's true," he deadpanned. "Look, you're thinking too much about this. You are _mine_," he growled in his baritone. "That's all,"

He sounded extremely possessive when he said that, and if she said she didn't like it, she was lying. "Kanda…" she blushed nearly tomato red, looking down and playing with her fingers. "T-that's…not a very good answer,"

"Che," he snorted. "But it is one,"

"It is," she agreed. "But you are not answering my question,"

Kanda gave some sort of sigh and tilted her chin up to meet his gaze with his hand. "Rei," he started off quietly. "I'm not… " he fumbled around for a word before settling on one. "…_good_...with this kind of thing," he continued when she just looked back at him questioningly. "Relationships," he clarified, averting his eyes awkwardly for a moment.

He didn't like to talk about such things so seriously, but he could tell Reiichi really wanted to sort this out with him.

"Oh," she mumbled. "Kanda, I…" she pressed on determinedly, "I like you. I like you a lot," she couldn't help the blush that came immediately with the words. "And I need to know if we're going somewhere with this, if at all," her voice flattered a little. "Because I don't even know if you want to start a relationship with me,"

Kanda kept his lips in a firm line. "I am serious," he said finally, although it seemed like it took a lot out of him to say it. "About you,"

A slow smile spread on her lips upon his direct words. While he didn't answer her directly, it was good enough.

"So...I guess we are?" she mumbled softly, trying not to grin like an idiot.

Kanda shrugged.

"Do we make it official?" she asked suddenly. "The press will suspect something if we're seen together all the time,"

"Damn them," he muttered.

"So it's 'ignore them and keep them guessing'?" she chuckled a bit, knowing exactly what he meant.

"Yeah,"

"Then about Lavi…"

"No, definitely not," he insisted immediately. "I'm _never_ going to give that idiot the satisfaction of admitting he was going somewhere with his goddamn matchmaking,"

Reiichi could definitely understand that. She laughed lightly, agreeing a hundred percent. Well, even if Lavi suspected something and most probably knew about them both, it still didn't mean they had to confirm it.

"Why—"

"Am I playing 20 questions with you?" Kanda asked, noting that she was asking him a lot of questions suddenly.

"No," she rolled her eyes, huffing a little. "I'm just wondering why..." she trailed off, initial courage faltering when he was looking back at her expectantly. "Why haven't you…kissed me since that day?" she forced it out, watching him blink in surprise."Sorry, stupid question," she mumbled eventually when he didn't answer, inwardly kicking herself for being so straightforward.

"No…" Kanda said finally after the shock had worn off. "I thought you…you would…" he searched around for a word, "_Freak out_, or something," he stated bluntly, not caring at all at how she flushed indignantly.

"Hey," she protested weakly, but she inwardly knew it was true.

"Well, considering when I just do this," he suddenly advanced towards her and considering the space they were in was _tiny_, his body was touching hers in just half a step. She jolted still as a thrill went down her spine, breath hitching. Slowly without breaking eye contact, he slid one finger down her neck, tracing a pathway and stopping at her collarbone. A small trail of heat pulsed at the areas where the pad of the finger grazed her skin, and her heart was pumping manically fast in response.

"You stop breathing,"

She heated up, embarrassed beyond words that he actually noticed her body reactions when he did something. She cursed the fact that he was just so darned alert to everything, and that she was still so new to all this.

"That's…that's…because I…" was all she managed, and she just decided to stop talking to prevent further mortification. It was pretty bad, considering there was nowhere to run away and hide, but her flustered state was all plain for him to see.

Kanda just smirked right back at her, eyes gleaming. "So," he drawled, purposely making his voice lower, sexier. "You _want _me, don't you?"

"Oh shut up, Kanda," she huffed. "I don't—mmrph!"

Since she practically had begged for it, there was no reason in denying her any longer, was there? It was entirely different from the previous two uncounted kisses they had in the past. When he was trying to give her mouth to mouth, he was more concerned on making her breathe. When he pressed his lips to hers or a second the other day, it was just a simple touch. This was different.

He had taken advantage of the fact that her mouth was open when he crashed his into hers hungrily, easily slipping his tongue in. He felt her recoil in shock when she felt him in her mouth, and he remembered that she had never done this done. All the better, because it was a new sort of thrill he had come to anticipate with her. The tongue was a sensitive organ, and he would teach her all the pleasurable things that came with it. Taking his own time, he slowly kissed her deeply, coaxing her to kiss back and smirking when he felt her responding back. His slinged arm was getting in the way, so he shrugged it off without breaking the kiss, using his right hand to cup behind her neck pull her even closer to taste her better. She was addicting, natural, _real_—and he just couldn't get enough.

After a while he pulled back, a smirk tugging on his features when she just blinked rather dazedly at him, as if she was lost in her own world dreaming. Her cheeks were flushed, breaths in heavy pants. And he hadn't even started.

Reiichi nearly stopped breathing again when he leaned down to French kiss her once more, because Kanda became even more aggressive this time round, totally dominating in his element. The sensations that he sparked travelled all the way down to her fingertips, her toes, and when she felt him graze his fingers behind her ear, she couldn't help the little gasps that started to slip out. Kanda took these noises as further encouragement, playing with the sensitive areas. It just felt incredibly good, incredibly _hot_—and the heat was getting even worse since they were in a small enclosed area.

"Rei…" he whispered huskily, breath ghosting past that told her he wanted her probably even more than she did. She blushed even deeper, liking the way he said her name—only _he_ called her Rei, and it was special. Sliding her arms to wound around his back cautiously, she felt his body muscles beneath, strong from workout, warm from his body heat. She trailed her fingers down, appreciating the way his back curved beautifully, and suddenly Kanda kissed her even harder when she touched a certain spot. She did it again, and each resulting time was even deeper, more passionate, until he finally _moaned_ in her mouth that he broke off the kiss, breathing heavily. His dark eyes stared back with barely concealed lust, but his face was tinted slightly pink, as though embarrassed that he was the one who had made such a sound.

"Don't…don't do that," he muttered with a bit of difficulty, voice low. "Or else I'll do _something_..," he continued in response to her confused look.

She blinked, trying to get her breath back. "Like what?"

Kanda frowned at her. "Do you honestly want me to say it flat out?"

"I don't exactly get what you're trying to say,"

He looked at her bluntly, lips pressed together, unhappy that he had to say this word for word. "Unless you want to have _sex _with me right here, then don't touch me there,"

She didn't know she could blush any harder, but she did. "Kanda!" she exclaimed, scandalized. She hadn't even thought that far, and the fact that he plainly told her that he was getting, ah, _bothered up_, was flattering in a sense, but slightly disturbing as well.

"You asked for it," he snorted.

"Right. I'm sorry I asked," she muttered sheepishly, unable to stop the permanent redness that coloured her face.

Kanda backed off slightly and leaned back against the wall, irritated that the mood was now gone. Actually he wouldn't have minded at all—sex, he means—but looking at his incapacitated arm and how Reiichi was wallowing in mortification—it was quite charming really, the way she was so innocent—he figured the storeroom was probably not a very good place. And also he hadn't forgotten about Lavi who oh so conveniently seemed to have forgotten (_bullshit_) that he had locked both of them in.

Speaking of which, weren't they in for about an hour already?

Reiichi seemed to read his mind because she glanced at her own watch. "What movie is he watching again?"

"Don't know, don't care," he grumbled. "He's so fucking_ dead_ anyway,"

Their silence this time lapsed into something more comfortable, like they were both just enjoying each other's presence. Seconds passed, small talk began again quietly, then more minutes passed…and the door suddenly swung open suddenly and a wave of fresh air hit their noses, causing Kanda to stumble unexpectedly because he was leaning his weight on it.

"It was getting a little quiet, people," Lavi started at them both grinning and waggling his eyebrows.

"Usagi…." Kanda hissed, cracking his right hand knuckles and kicking the door fully open to shove his way out, advancing on Lavi murderously.

It was odd, because Lavi just looked at them both with a rather smug and satisfied smirk. "Got busy, eh?" he flounced behind Reiichi who had stepped out, fanning herself.

"No, we didn't—" she tried to deny, but her cousin wagged his finger at her.

"Ah ah," he winked at her, hands gripping the back of her shoulders as he tried to dodge the grabs Kanda was trying to make at him. "I can see your finger marks on the back of Yuu's shirt," Lavi whispered into her ear, causing her eyes to widen in shock because well, she forgot that Lavi with his photographic memory would have noticed something as small as that. She flamed red, unable to retort anything as she turned to chase him, but he easily slipped away and laughed at her. "Was he a good kisser?" he teased, loving the way she scrambled after him, body language confirming to him that they did do something in the room together.

"USAGI STOP BEING A GODDAMN COWARD!" Kanda shouted, pissed that his friend didn't want to take his punishment like a man.

"YUU-CHAN~" Lavi waved to him enthusiastically as he ran out the front door. "DON'T DENY HOW MUCH YOU_ ENJOYED_ BEING LOCKED UP WITH REI-CHAN—"

"YOU SHUT THE HELL UP—"

"IF I KNOW WHAT LOVE IS~" he sang loudly, "IT'S BECAUSE OF YOUUUUU~" he started to snicker when both of them stopped stunned as though caught redhanded, one word going on repeat in both their heads.

_Shit._

"FUCK!" Kanda exclaimed furiously, dashing out the door to annihilate the annoying pest, ignoring the burn in his side from the wound. This was more important. An extremely dark blush was written all over his face, and he looked positively _livid_. How cute. "HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?"

"Oh, so it's true?" Lavi couldn't help but sing back innocently, laughing so hard when he spotted Reiichi squatting in a ball at the doorway trying to hide her embarrassment by pretending he didn't exist. Yeah right.

Kanda made some sort of a strangled frustrated noise as the two boys circled about on the front porch. "IT'S NOT!" he denied, wishing that someone, anyone, would just kill the redhead.

"It's not healthy to lie to yourself," Lavi advised, extremely amused at how his friend's eyes were burning with the incentive to murder. "I recorded it on video even, so if you want to—"

Kanda froze, eyes widening with clear dread. "…What?" he managed finally, stopping in his tracks. "You fucking did…what?"

"I stuck a video cam in there, didn't you guys notice?" Lavi carried on cheerily, unaffected. "I guess not, since you guys were extremely _busy_," he grinned. "It's good material, you know, for your wedding day,"

A sudden noise at the door told the two men standing at the porch that Reiichi had ran in search of the device, and they locked gazes for one second before Kanda dashed after her, a string of free curses out from his mouth.

Lavi only whistled happily, digging into his pocket for a flat piece of plastic, flipping it between his fingers. "Card memory is so awesome," he commented, wondering how long it would take before the other two found the camera that was hidden in the room with no evidence of any recording in it.

Oh well.

* * *

**Owari. **

Lavi had to get some revenge, since he was sadly left out on all the fun.

I actually have this huge urge to write Kanda's proposal and their wedding or something, because I thrive on fluff XD

I'm posting this just before I am going to receive my exam results (the one which I slaved two years for) tomorrow and truthfully, I AM FREAKED! But anyway, if I get into depression or something, I might not be in the mood to type, so I'm giving this chapter to you guys first. Haha. I did promise a fast update :D

But it's not yet the end, people!


	33. Chapter 32

**-Imitation Black-**

**

* * *

**

The next week was a mad rush. Starting from Monday, there were press meetings, company meetings, all to ensure a formal closure of Lavi's made-on-a-whim project. As usual, Reiichi was nervous, but at least having Lavi and Kanda with her throughout all the sessions made it better, since her cousin was comfortable with and easily controlled crowds. Whether or not the majority of the fashion critics liked her style for the past weeks, she didn't really care, because she was proud of it and she knew the people whose opinions that truly mattered—like Anita—believed in her.

True to Lavi's word, Komui did set up an interview for her—with professional people whom she had never met before. One of them was a kindly old man, Kevin Yeegar, who was the head of the department managing Innocence's models—their workload and the like. The other two were women, and dominating women at that. Twi Chan, apparently Bak Chan's mother, looked fairly young (and she didn't even want to guess the woman's age) who was the head of Marketing, and a blonde, Renny Epstain, was the head of Research.

Everything was going fine—they asked her the usual questions about her portfolio, her working tactics, her strong points, weak points, until Yeegar came to the final question.

"Well, Kuroshi-san, I believe we have just one final question for you," he smiled gently, eyes twinkling and for a moment she actually thought Yeegar was _Dumbledore_, but that's not the point. He glanced to his paper and blinked for a moment, then looked at her seriously. "How do you feel about Kanda Yuu?"

Perhaps she just stared back a little too long uncomprehendingly because he repeated the question again.

"I'm sorry, but what is the point of that question?" she couldn't help but ask.

"I'm curious about that too," Twi crossed her arms, staring at Yeegar. "We leave personal matters out of work, you know,"

"My apologizes, but the list of questions were given to me," Yeegar replied, sounding unfazed. "And I believe it's written here that you are required to answer the question,"

"Written?" Renny peered over Yeegar's shoulder to take a look. "Why yes, it's actually written there,"

Immediately, Reiichi thought of all the ways she could behead her cousin because he was the only one who would do such a stupid thing like this. God. In her interview no less. It could only be Lavi.

"I think…he's a great asset to the company," she said, being rather factual about it.

Both the women nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer, but Yeegar looked at her closely. "…That's all?"

Of course it wasn't _all_, but there was no way she was going to stammer like a blushing idiot declaring her love for the model. That would be unthinkable. "Yes,"

Yeegar sat back, a serious look not wavering from his face. She returned his gaze with equal determination for a minute until he relaxed into a smile, crossing his arms. "You pass,"

"W-what?" she blinked. That's it?

Twi Chan stood up, brushing off her unwrinkled suit and stretched rather unprofessionally, while Renny muttered something about sitting too long in the chair.

"You're officially one of us now," Yeegar explained for her benefit, not caring at how the other two women ambled out of the interview room lazily after waving a goodbye hand at her. "You see, we need professional people in this company," he shuffled the papers on the table into a neat sack, "and we don't take well to ah, _fans_, of Kanda-kun who try to get in just to get close to him," he shook his head slightly. "Although given your current relationship with the boy, the question was rather pointless—"

Reiichi stood stunned for a moment. "I-I'm just friends with him," she felt she had to say, in case she was taking his words the wrong way.

"Oh?" he stopped for a moment looking at her. "I was under the impression that he was dating you," he scrutinized the horrified look on her face. "I heard it from Lee himself," he added.

"…Lenalee," Reiichi groaned, covering her face with her hands. "How many people have heard about that?"

"Just the head of departments," Yeegar chuckled, standing up with his file. "It's part of our job to know everything that goes on in this company. But rest assured, the rest of the workers do not have privy to such information," he walked over, and she stood up in respect. Grasping her hand warmly, he smiled. "Welcome to the family, Kuroshi-kun,"

Reiichi sighed in relief, mustering a smile back. "Thank you, sir," then she paused for a moment. "Was that question written in cursive writing?"

He thought for a moment. "Why yes, it was. In fact, it is rather odd that the question was written as an afterthought, instead of being typed like the rest, come to think of it. But it was my obligation to ask it anyway,"

"I understand," she replied with as much controlled anger, because she just _knew_ Lavi was the one.

He was so dead.

* * *

"Rei-chan~!" Lavi whined, trying to shield himself pathetically as she cornered him in the basement right after her interview and kicked him for all she was worth. "Oww—stop—ow—okay! I'm sorry!" he begged, hands clasped together in prayer.

"No, you're not," she scowled, but she stopped bodily harming him.

"Nope, I'm not," he agreed cheerily, launching at her with a hug so she couldn't kick him again. "I'm so proud of you, Rei-chan!" He sang, delighted. "My cousin's got a job! A J-O-B, JOB!"

"I was under the impression that I was employed here for the past few weeks, Lavi," she shook her head, laughing a little because he sounded really happy. "But thank you," she hugged him back, "for everything," she whispered, a sudden stuffy feeling hit her nose and her eyes watered a little. "For everything," she repeated.

"Aww, don't cry," he soothed her hair, squeezing back even tighter. "What did I say about trusting me from the start? It was all worth it, wasn't it?"

"I guess," she mumbled, not letting go. It had been a while since she had such a moment with her cousin.

"You guess?" he exclaimed like it was blasphemy. "For sure, you mean!" he pulled back a little looking at her seriously. "I've got you the best_ husband_ in the world—"

"He's not my…my…h-husband!" she denied furiously, face flaming in mortification as she tried to pull away but he wasn't letting go.

"Sure he is," her cousin continued on unaffected. "It's just a matter of time before the wedding bells start to chime," grinning at how Reiichi was pressing her totally red face into his chest, pinching him in the stomach.

"Lavi, stop it," she hissed, trying to make him shut up.

Ever since the fateful day wherein she was locked into the storeroom with Kanda, Lavi hadn't shut up a single minute about them having some twisted secret amorous affair. There wasn't much use denying it considering the way they both had scrambled to find the hidden camera told Lavi more than words that they were guilty, even if the camera they found had no trace of any video recorded. While Kanda brushed it off as one of Lavi's idiocies, she knew her cousin had done something. Even if he didn't, both of them bodily harmed him enough in the possibility that he did.

"Oh, speak of the devil," Lavi quipped happily, waving to someone behind her. "Yuu-chan, how was your shoot?"

"Fucking sucked," the other commented, strolling into the kitchen where the other two of them were and blanching for a second when he saw both of them cuddling together. Disgusting.

"Don't give that face, Yuu," the male redhead stuck his tongue out. "I bet you totally want to do this with your _wifey_—"

Kanda calmly took a fork sitting innocently on the table at hurled it at him.

"Hey! You could've harmed Rei-chan!"

"I'm not stupid, unlike you," the model sneered, glaring at him. "Will you stop touching her already?" he grounded out, irritated.

"Aww, don't be jealous," Lavi snickered and hugged Reiichi even tighter. "I'm still the most important person in her life, hah!"

"Well, she—" the Japanese stopped in his retort, scowling when his best friend just looked at him expectantly. "I'm not saying it," he huffed, turning to the fridge.

"I was so close!" Lavi whined. "Come on, I know you wanted to say, "She belongs to me", or something like that, eh?" he grinned at how Kanda threw him a can of coke with a muttered "shut up". Actually it was along the lines of "shut the fuck up" but well, it was the same thing.

"Anyway, you would be amped to know that Rei-chan's hired!" he beamed, hugging the girl still in his arms tightly again. "I'm so proud, I could be a parent!"

"Lavi..." Reiichi patted his cheek slightly, trying to make him let go a bit so that she could breathe.

"Huh," Kanda snorted, glancing at her once.

"Not even going to say congratulations?" Lavi cocked his head questioningly, releasing his hold on his cousin for a moment so that she could turn around to face Kanda. "Or a celebratory kiss?" to which he got elbowed in the ribs for. "Ow—"

"Wasn't it kind of…_obvious _that she'd get in?" the model shrugged. "You and I own this damn company,"

"You are such a spoiled sport," Lavi sniffed, "Can't you play the part of a charming supportive boyfriend for once?"

Reiichi actually coughed so much that even Kanda was starting to feel affronted. "Hey, woman," he growled, annoyed.

"Whoa, don't choke there, Rei-chan!" her cousin patted her back as she tried to breathe.

Charming? Supportive? She just had this image of Kanda in a clichéd shoujo manga wherein he smiles every so encouragingly with imaginary sparkles and flowers behind. Hilarious.

"Sorry," she managed after a while with a force of habit and smiled innocently at Kanda who was glaring at her. "Well, I've got to move my stuff up to my new office which I gained not through connections," she glared back at Kanda for the previous implication. "So I'll see you guys later—"

"No, no, we'll help you bring it up!" Lavi declared immediately, eyes bright with his new idea.

"We?" Kanda couldn't help but ask, but he just knew he was being pulled into this anyway.

"Yes, _we_," the photographer rolled his eyes. "What kind of boyfriend doesn't help his beloved when she's in need, huh?"

Kanda scowled. "She's not my—"

"—beloved, lover, koibito, dearest, honey, nutmeg, sugarcake, baby, sweetheart, girlfriend, wife—paah!" Lavi sniffed. "DENIAL!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"NO!"

"If you guys are just going to repeat that all day, I'll make a move first," Reiichi rolled her eyes, stepping out of the kitchen easily.

"You see, Yuu, you made her angry!" Lavi insisted after a while. "You should've just said 'okay' or something!"

"She's not angry," he retorted, but he sounded just a tad bit unsure.

"She is! Look, no girl likes to be denied of their proper title," the redhead explained rather convincingly. "You've got to use some term of endearment with her!"

"That's what_ you _want, isn't it?" Kanda raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," his friend admitted without much shame, "Come on, it'll be_ cute_!"

"I don't even know why I'm listening to your crap," the model huffed, stalking away presumably to follow Reiichi.

"Because you know I'm right!" the photographer sang, following after him.

* * *

"Hey, Chomesuke!" Lavi bounded over to the receptionist desk unabashedly, flashing his trademark flirtaous smile. "Did you miss me?"

"Of course, I did cho," the pretty burette smiled happily, then her eyes widened and she stood up suddenly. "K-ka-kanda-san!" she stared, accent dropping for a moment when she realized the Japanese model was in her presence.

It wasn't that Chomesuke was a major fan of Kanda Yuu (because everyone was a fan anyway) but the shock was in seeing the model actually up in the offices. Kanda never went up the offices unless it was for a meeting, and that in itself was pretty rare, like…four times a year.

"If you haven't been acquainted with my cousin yet then this is Rei-chan!" Lavi shoved his cousin next to him grinning.

"Ah—pleasure to meet you, Kuroshi-san cho," Chomesuke bowed hurriedly. "Your desk has been cleared for your use cho,"

"Thank you, Sachiko-san," Reiichi smiled back, liking the receptionist immediately.

Kanda rolled his eyes at all the pleasantries, barging past them all to head in the department of Design. Reiichi was starting to think that maybe it wasn't a very good idea for Kanda to have agreed wordlessly to help her carry her stuff up because when she entered the correct floor—40th—with him and her cousin, the entire floor went deadly quiet like someone died or something. The only sound that was emitted from the photocopying machine that was perpetually switched on, and everyone else in the level turned to stare the moment Kanda stepped into the vicinity. Somewhere out there, someone dropped a ceramic mug on the floor.

Lavi seemed to take no notice of this as he pulled her beside him randomly when they walked in and waved to all of them who had their entire attention on the trio now. "Hey guys, this is my beloved cousin and she'll be joining you guys from tomorrow onwards," he grinned happily, "So make her feel welcomed, yeah?"

A few scattered chuckles and nods and waves from the rest of the workers in the level broke the awkward tension. However as they moved to one of the corners that was bordered up, Reiichi just knew that whisperings behind them had started.

"Lavi," she asked curiously when they came to an isolated row of cubicles away from the rest which was next to a work room with glass windows, "Why are they…"

"Hmm?" Lavi placed the long ruler he was flipping in his hand on her table, seemingly oblivious to the situation.

"…nothing," she didn't know exactly what she was asking anyway.

"Che," Kanda dumped her box of stuff (for he was actually carrying something of worth unlike his friend, and he still had his cast on that asshole), "Can we go now?"

"Ah, you just wanna spend alone time with Rei-chan, am I right?" Lavi grinned teasingly, but he kept his voice now in case someone heard them.

"I want to sort my stuff out first," Reiichi ignored him, waving them away. "Thanks Kanda, for helping me carry my things," she smiled at him, giving him an eye signal that she'd find him downstairs later.

"Hey, why don't I get thanked too?" Lavi pouted.

"Because you left him to carry the heavy things when his arm is still injured!"

Lavi swore Kanda just smirked at him for that. He knew he friend actually _liked_ being hurt, considering how entirely biased his cousin was treating the model. "Bah, I'm going to bother Komui," he declared. "What about Yuu?"

"Downstairs," the model replied immediately. "I fucking hate this office,"

"If you hate it so much then don't come up here, Kanda Yuu," a silky voice quipped, and a familiar blonde busty woman was leaning against the edge of the cubicles. "My, my, so it is true. Kanda Yuu is actually here,"

"Shut the hell up, woman. I can be wherever I want," the Japanese retorted. "Don't you have your work to do?"

"I had to confirm with my own eyes—"

"Epstain, what are you doing here?" another sultry voice called, and the clicks of heels could be heard.

"Same question back to you, Chan," Renny sounded amused when the older woman came up to beside her. "Your office is way more floors below mine,"

"I heard a rumour about our bitching boytoy wonder being present at the offices when it's not a meeting day," Twi looked over at Kanda who scowled more. "Seems like it's true," then she grinned ever so slyly at him. "Hey there, _ass_et,"

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

Unfortunately Reiichi totally understood what the head of Marketing was implying, considering the older woman winked at her and chuckled together with the other. Both of them shrugged, carelessly waving a backwave to them all as they went away like nothing occurred. Reiichi couldn't help but feel maybe it was a very big mistake for Kanda to have helped her.

* * *

"So…Kuroshi Reiichi, was it?"

Reiichi looked up from the desk she was organizing, startled to find three girls looking curiously at her. The one who spoke was bespectacled and had long brown hair, and she looked rather calm and serious, if not pleasant. The girl next to her had her hair in a lighter shade of brown, tied up in a ponytail and she had pretty girly French features. The last one was a much shorter and younger girl, with round glasses and black hair tied into pigtails.

"I'm Moor Hesse," the same girl introduced, pointing at the others respectively. "This is Emilia Galmar and she's Lou Fa, our general secretary. Well, you'll meet the male general secretaries later," she smiled. "We're part of the core design team, like you and the others, I'm sure you've met Reever, Johhny, Tapp and 65,"

"Yes I have," Reiichi stood up to bow to them all formally. "Please take care of me from now on,"

"No, no," Moor waved it off. "No need to be so polite here," she chuckled. "Just as long you can work in a team, I'm sure you'll be fine,"

"Thanks," she wiped her palms nervously on her jeans, suddenly noticing that the other girl, Emilia, had not stopped frowning at her the moment she saw her.

"Emy," Moor nudged the other, "Play nice,"

"But she—Kanda-sama—he—" the girl spluttered, whirling towards Lou Fa when the younger one let out a giggle. "It's not funny!"

Reiichi just watched this with a raised eyebrow.

"Emy is deadly in_ love_ with Kanda Yuu," Moor explained, sighing. "Don't mind her, she's just jealous,"

"_Jealous_?" the other girl repeated with incredulity. "I'm more than jealous!" she banged the table next to her unabashedly. "There's no way Kanda Yuu would have ever come up to the offices unless she did something!" she pointed at Reiichi accusingly. "How did you do it? I want to know!"

"I, er, asked?" Reiichi stated, watching how flabbergasted the other was becoming.

"That's it!" Emilia groaned, clutching to Moor in a dramatic display of agony. "I knew it! The rumours were right all along, they are actually dating, there's no chance for me!"

"But I'm not dating Kanda!" Reiichi burst out, unable to comprehend how everyone just _knew_ for some unexplainable reason.

"Oh you are," Moor smiled slyly not attempting to comfort the other girl at all. "Your face says it all,"

"W-what?"

"You're blushing, Kuroshi-san," Lou Fa said softly, giggling a little.

"Don't even try to deny it!" Emilia suddenly glared at her from her position at Moor's shoulder. "You have the man that every girl in the universe wants, why aren't you bragging about it?" she demanded.

"Because no one is supposed to know!" Reiichi groaned, horrified for the second time in a day.

"Well, after that rumour about Kanda-san punching Daisya Barry, we all thought it was the only logical conclusion," Moor smiled lightly. "Of course, this girl," she shook the arm that was still being used as a clutch by Emilia, "wouldn't believe it until the day wherein Kanda-san was forced to take a break during the Wrath photoshoot of yours and then that car accident pretty much said it," then she continued on blithely. "I guess today seeing Kanda-san in the flesh right here just about confirmed everything, didn't it?"

"Shut up, Moor," Emilia grumbled. "Oh_ why_ did such a gorgeous male have to get attached?"

"Anyway, all of us are cool with it, you know," Moor sighed softly. "That man really needed someone in his life,"

"That someone was supposed to be me!" Emilia protested, sulking.

"Come on, he doesn't even remember your name," the older women snorted.

Reiichi actually winced at that comment, but a vibration on the table informed her that someone was calling her phone. Before she could even pick it up, Emilia shrieked, "Oh my god, you have his number!"

"Well of course, she would have his number," Moor stated blandly. "Well, go on, answer it," she smiled at Reiichi, but all three of the girls stood around her with no intention to go away.

She accepted the cell warily.

"Rei," Kanda started out immediately. "It's already four. What the hell are you doing?"

"I met some of my colleagues," she explained. "Just wait a while more, okay?"

"Tch," he sniffed. "If you're not down by five minutes, I'll leave you behind,"

"I know you won't," she smiled slightly. "Besides if you haven't noticed by now, Lavi jacked your car keys this morning,"

"What—" there was the sound of him rummaging around, presumably at his pockets. "Fuck!" he concluded a moment later. "Where is he?" he hissed.

"Komui's office,"

"I'll skin the bloody idiot. Five minutes, Rei," he stated before he flipped shut his cell. "I'm waiting,"

"_I'm waiting_?" Emilia burst out immediately after she disconnected the line, hands trembling with aguish. "I wanted to hear that from Kanda-sama's mouth since...since…_forever_!" she exclaimed. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing!" Reiichi flushed, realizing how those two little words that Kanda probably said without much thought actually sounded like to the rest.

"Come on, what are you standing around here for?" the other girl demanded, helping her take her wallet and stuffing it in her hands and starting to drag her out. "You're going to be late for your date!"

"We're not going on a date!" she tried to say, but girl was having none of it.

"You don't make Kanda-sama wait!" Emilia insisted, ushering her out and making a commotion in which everyone else started to watch the show. "Come on, move it!"

"Emilia-san approves, doesn't she?" Lou Fa asked Moor as they watched with much amusement at the other two who had successfully caught the attention of the entire level with Emilia's shouts.

"Well, that girl loves Kanda-san, perhaps a bit too much," Moor smiled fondly. "For her, Kanda-san's happiness is the upmost priority,"

"Ah…I see,"

* * *

"Kuroshi, pass me that file, would you?" Reever called from the other side of the workroom, not looking up from another stack of papers in front of him.

"Hmm? This?" she picked out the closest file in the shelf that was next to her and showed it to him.

"Ah, yes. Throw it over, thanks,"

She slid it over the workbench, and Reever caught it deftly without even a single glance at it. It was just the end of the first week of her official beginning at the offices, and work was much more hectic when she was just making clothes for Kanda. On her very first day the entire core team had walked her through the various design lines in progress, and got her familiar with the whole process in general. Basically for every season there would be a theme, and each individual designer would design their own range, from there, designs would be picked and improved on as a whole team.

Currently while it was still summer, they were all creating their designs for the autumn collection. One thing Reiichi really liked about working for real in the offices was that she was designing _normal _clothes, not the fancy pieces she did for the past seven weeks. Those were fun, but she needed something different, for a change.

"Emy, scissors," Moor stuck out her hand towards the other girl's general direction attention still on the mannequin in front of her.

One thing Moor had told her from the beginning was absolutely right—teamwork was crucial. Somehow it seemed like a race against time, and everyone thrived on efficiency. It was different from when Reiichi could do things at her own pace, wasting time when she wasn't concentrating. But given that everyone was serious when they had to be serious, the atmosphere was pretty good for hard work. They all did have fun even in such times though, especially when criticizing each other's pieces, all in good banter of course.

"Lunch, when is lunch?" 65 bemoaned from his corner, sticking a needle into a piece of fabric he was holding depressingly. "Kaichou, can we please go now?"

Reever glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed, waving him away. "Yes yes, just go already,"

The expression on 65 practically turned 180 degrees, eyes lighting up and setting down the thread and needle quickly, grinning. Within seconds he was out the door, disappearing from sight.

"What's up with him? Johnny asked, blinking.

"He's got a date," Tapp answered, setting down the file he was looking through. "Well, I'm hungry too,"

"Could either of you wake Komui?" Reever flopped on the chair he was standing in front of him wearily. "I bet you he's sleeping on his desk,"

Everyone else in the workroom gave a knowing snort, rolling their eyes.

"Well, we're going to bring Reiichi out for a welcome lunch that you misers are too strapped to do," Emy sniffed, ushering the two other girls out of the room.

"That's only because you want to get into Kanda's good books!" Tapp grinned, waving them out.

"And that Kanda's been bringing her out every other day!" Johnny added, laughing a little.

"Shut up, you insensitive pricks!" Emilia huffed, glaring at them both one final time before pulling the other two out of sight.

"I do appreciate it, you know," Reiichi smiled at the French girl once they were all in the lift.

"You'd better," the girl gave her a slight mock frown, and then it melted into a creepy grin. "So…where did you guys go after work?"

"Emy!" Moor rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Can you stop harassing Reiichi? I know you're deadly curious about what Kanda-san does in his private life but could you let the girl breathe?"

"But the tabloids are bullshit!" the French pouted. "She's the only reliable source!"

"I feel rather used," Reiichi sighed, muttering to herself.

She did like Emilia—the girl was rather cute in her own way, but if she hadn't met anyone who was such a huge Kanda fangirl in the Black Academy (trust me, she has), Emilia could be the personification of it. Everything that came out of her mouth had to be related to Kanda in some way, and even Reiichi was starting to wonder if she even had a conversation with the other that was _not _about Kanda.

Soon they all reached the lobby and stalked out the glass doors, reveling in the warmth of the sun, a contrast to their air conditioned office.

"What's _he _doing here?"

Emilia's tone made Reiichi whip towards the direction the other was looking at in quite a lot of disdain. At a corner of the carpark, she spotted a particular mop of messy curls was particularly familiar. The figure looked at her directly for a moment, and then waved casually, beckoning her to come over.

"He's calling you over, Reiichii," Moor commented.

"Yeah…" she answered non-committedly, and she made her way towards the black expensive car the person in question was leaning on.

"Reiichi," Emlia suddenly stopped her halfway, scrutinizing her seriously. "Are you _cheating_ on Kanda-sama?"

She turned, blinking for a moment, and then frowned. "No, I am not," she replied back rather harshly, feeling insulted.

The French girl relaxed a little. "Well then, why is Tyki Mikk looking for you?" she whispered/demanded as they all continued to walk.

"I have no idea," she said honestly.

With suspicious eyes, she approached the outsider whose grin widened. The man was dressed a lot more casual then she was used to—his red glasses, messy hair, and wearing only a simple t-shirt and jeans.

"Good afternoon, Reiichi," Tyki smiled charmingly when the three of them reached him. He went a wink to both Moor and Emilia, "Ladies,"

"Likewise, Mikk-san," Moor smiled pleasantly, but Emilia merely glared at him back, refusing to say anything.

Tyki quirked an eyebrow at that, not used to girls treating him this way. In his very factual opinion, he was too sexy too be ignored, but apparently_ Innocence_ company girls were just as weird as Reiichi.

"She's very biased towards Kanda Yuu," Moor explained, earning a suppressed eye roll from Mikk. Huh, should have known.

"Anyway, what are you doing here, Mikk?" Reiichi asked curiously, standing a slight distance away from his warily.

"To see you," the Portuguese easily replied, smiling handsomely. "Do I have the honour of taking the lady out to lunch?"

"Actually I already have plans," she answered, feeling slightly relieved that she could decline his request.

"I just want to talk with you," he insisted, "About things,"

"What things?" she narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"You know…_things_," he shrugged. "I promise I won't touch you," he quickly added when he saw her hesitate.

"As you said before the last time, and look what happened," Reiichi frowned.

"Well..." he chuckled a little, rubbing his chin. "I swear, Reiichi," he finally decided, "I will bring you back in the exact condition as you are now, no hair out of place,"

She eyed him warily. "How can I trust you on that?"

"You can't," he smirked a little. "But you do have some things to ask me, don't you?"

Yes, there were things she wanted to ask him, like those last words he had said to her at the Valentino showcase, or about the car accident. She debated slightly, wondering if the risk was worth it. In the end, she figured that it was a rare chance, considering how the twins didn't like to talk about family politics with her, and she wasn't about to barge into the Noah manor anytime soon.

"I'm sorry guys," she turned around apologetically, to the other two blatantly eavesdropping on their conversation. "I think we'll have to lunch another day—"

"Reiichi, you can't be serious!" Emilia pulled her a few steps away and whispered furiously to her, "You know how Kanda-sama feels about Tyki Mikk! He'll be absolutely livid!"

"Yeah, I do know," she sighed. "But I've got something I need to clear up with Mikk as well,"

"If you're upsetting Kanda-sama with this," the girl gave her a stern look and threatened, "I will never speak to you again,"

"Emilia-san, forgive my bluntness but I would appreciate it if you didn't insinuate that I would _ever _hurt Kanda voluntarily," Reiichi snapped, annoyed.

Both of them stared at each other unwavering for a minute before Emilia relented. "I just hope know what you're doing," she frowned, patting her back and gesturing to Moor. "Come on, girl, I'm hungry," she turned away and stalked off.

Moor gave Reiichi one more look. "Bring her back before 2 p.m, Mikk-san," she stated before following after Emilia.

* * *

"New bodyguards?" Tyki murmured, eyes appreciatively watching Moor walk away into the distance.

"Colleagues," Reiichi crossed her arms. "So, where are we going?"

"You're being rather harsh today," he commented, noting that she was still a few steps away from him. "I'm not going to bite,"

Reiichi only looked at him pointedly.

"I get it," he rolled his eyes, reaching over to open the passenger seat for her. He cocked his head to gesture her to get in, and she did so a little reluctantly. "I've wanted to try this place in town," he said, getting into the driver's seat and turning up the ignition. "So let's commence our date, shall we?" he smiled, stepping on the accelerator.

It turned out that Tyki wanted to eat at some fast food restaurant, at which Reiichi stared stunned at the entrance of it, gaping. "You actually eat at…_Wendy_'s?" She just couldn't get over how he_, Tyki Mikk_, was actually choosing to eat at a fast food restaurant.

"What? Am I not allowed?" he sniffed, sauntering past her to enter.

"No, it's just that, well," she coughed. "You're a model,"

Apparently Tyki didn't really understand what she was trying to say, because he shrugged. "Hey, get that table," he pointed to an empty table at the corner. "I'll order. What would you like?"

"Chicken burger I guess," she glanced at the menu once, "And one lemon tea,"

He nodded at her, heading to the counter to queue. Reiichi ambled over to the empty table he had picked out earlier and waited. This was such an incredibly odd circumstance that she couldn't believe it herself._ Tyki Mikk in a fast food restaurant._

"Ne, he looks like Mikk-sama, doesn't he?" a girl at the table next to hers nudged her friend. "That one in the dark green shirt,"

Her friend turned to look, scrutinizing for a few moments. "As far as I know, Mikk-sama has perfect eyesight," she mused."That guy is wearing glasses,"

"But his hair is kind of familiar, don't you think?"

"Well...would Mikk-sama come to _Wendy's_, honestly?"

"I guess you're right…"

Reiichi tried not to laugh as Tyki came back with a tray of their food. He set it down, glancing once to the two girls on the right with a rather bored expression, then smiled at Reiichi, handing her portion over to her. "_Darling_, I didn't know if you wanted chili or ketchup, so I got you both,"

"See, it's not Mikk-sama," one of them whispered, and the two of them turned their attention elsewhere.

Reiichi snorted, shaking her head. "What happened to playboy extraordinaire today?"

"He's on break," Tyki answered easily, unwrapping his burger and digging in. It was unfair how Sheryl always banned him from eating the good stuff, and so the only chances where to sneak out on his own. If he went alone there would always be someone who would recognize him, but since Reiichi was here today, it was so much easier getting around without the hassle of his fangirls.

"So…" Reiichi started her own meal. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Have you considered my offer?" He looked at her curiously, pausing in his bite.

"Yes," she answered honestly. "And my answer is no,"

"Why not?" he blinked incredulously. "Is it because of…" he lowered his voice, eyes shifting once to the two girls beside who didn't seem to be paying attention to them anymore. "…Kanda Yuu?"

The two girls didn't react, so he assumed it was safe.

"No," she sighed. "I wouldn't go out with you regardless if I like Kanda or not," she stated quite bluntly.

"Oh, so you two _are_ together," he rubbed his chin, nodding slightly.

Reiichi cursed herself for the slipup. "I didn't say that we are—"

"But you are, aren't you?" he cut her off, raising an eyebrow. Sheesh, he wasn't dense. "Well, this makes things more difficult," he muttered.

"Make what more difficult?" she narrowed her eyes. "Are you trying to do something again?"

He paused. "What do you mean 'again'?"

"Mikk—" she started off irritably.

"Tyki, please," he smiled, noting that her temper was starting to get as short as Kanda Yuu. He's such a bad influence.

"Tyki," she frowned, not really caring about his name at the moment. "I know the time when a truck crashed into Kanda's car had something to do with your family," she looked at him seriously. "And if you're trying to…to…_kill _us—"

"Sheryl was right," he murmured, surprised. "You guys are pretty smart,"

"Smart?" she scoffed. "It was extremely suspicious, especially with what you told me the last time,"

Well, he had sort of forgotten he had said some things to her. "Oh, you took that seriously?"

"Was I not supposed to?"

He shrugged.

"Mikk," Reiichi sighed heavily once, trying to keep cool. "What exactly are you guys playing at? I'm not exactly _thrilled _to hear that you have intentions to _kill _me, which gives me every reason to walk out right now," and then as an afterthought, "Or, I will announce to everyone in _Wendy_'s that Tyki Mikk is here,"

"You wouldn't," he eyed her suspiciously.

"Try me,"

"Look, _Reiichi_," Tyki smiled wryly, trying to placate her. "Before you do your drastic thing, I will admit it was orders from the Earl to shake you guys up," he explained. "Our intention is not to ah, _kill_, you. I never used the word "kill", by the way,"

"Well…" she shifted back through her memories. "That time when you said you'd kick him off the chessboard..."

"Oh?" he paused. "I was referring to the chessboard of your_ heart_," he grinned and shrugged casually. "And it seems like I'm losing for now,"

"No," she retorted rather forcefully. "He has you at checkmate,"

"Harsh,"

"You also used "eliminate" the last time," she supplied.

"Well, your blonde friend isn't dead, is she?" he pointed out calmly. "Her voice could shatter glass, I swear,"

Reiichi gave a short chuckle at that. "Did she scream at you or something?"

He rolled his eyes. "For not telling the whole truth—"

"Lying, Tyki," she stated. "It's a better choice of word for your usage,"

"I did not lie," he denied. "It was merely a truth that had not come to pass at that point in time. You _are_ attached to Kanda Yuu now,"

"You don't sound very bothered by that,"

"That's because Kanda Yuu's efforts to woo any girl are like a rock, meaning, it is all in vain," he flicked a strand of hair that fell over his eyes boredly. "I'm not particularly threatened by him,"

"I will _never _date you, Tyki," she felt like she had to state that rather clearly.

"That's what you say. Well, I certainly don't get your attachment to him," he mused. "Then again, neither did I get Lulu's attachment to him either, but I don't really care either way,"

Reiichi stiffened upon hearing the female Noah's name. "Did she…truly like him?"

"Lulu?" he sipped at his drink casually, then paused. "Shouldn't you be more concerned if your boyfriend liked her, and not the other way round?"

"He doesn't like to talk about it," she reluctantly answered.

"See," Tyki smirked triumphantly. "He doesn't trust you enough, _Reiichi_,"

"Kanda does trust me," she snapped back, frowning. "I just respect his decisions, that's all,"

"Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself," he grinned lazily. "If you dated me, _Reiichi_, I'll tell you anything you want to know. _Anything_,"

"I'll pass," she stated blandly, making sure that the insecurity of Kanda not trusting her was well covered up.

* * *

"So," Tyki began when he opened the door for her to get out when they returned from lunch. "I kept to my word, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," she admitted grudgingly, stepping out. "Thank you for that," she paused. "And thanks for lunch,"

"You're welcome anytime," he grinned. "Well," he shut the door, leaning against his car to pull out a box of cigarettes, "If you ever want to expand your horizons into the enemy territory," he shook out one stick. "I'm always free,"

"I'll keep that in mind," she smiled slightly, then grimaced when he lit the cancer on stick. "You should quit that,"

"I should quit a lot of things," he replied back easily, sauntering over to the driver's seat after letting out a puff of smoke. "See you soon, Reiichi," he smiled across the rolled down window.

"Keep out of Kanda's sight, would you?" she smiled wryly, stepping a little back to let him drive off. "And could you…could you treat Matsumoto better?" she called.

"Only if she stops calling me _bitch_!" he waved back cheerfully one last time, speeding off into the roads.

* * *

Dinner was a normal affair—they were both getting more comfortable around each other—fine, Reichi was getting more comfortable around Kanda, and she pulled him over to the television to waste some time together. Well, Kanda didn't really mind since it he couldn't swim at the moment—his arm was still in the stupid cast, ugh. Not working out was taking a toll on his body.

"Hey, this is a new drama," Reiichi commented, pressing the buttons to reveal the hypnosis. "Well, it seems like a pretty clichéd one—there's this guy who is disabled, another in a coma, oh, there's going to be a car crash too and one of them is suicidal—"

"…You smell like him," Kanda grabbed her suddenly, clamping her arm down and stilling her.

"Smell like who?" she asked, confused, muting the television for a moment.

There was this cigarette smell that he had been picking up on the moment he met Reiichi and it wasn't going away. At first he thought it was some background scent, but when the disgusting smell seemed get stronger when he sat near her, a sudden thought struck his mind.

"That asshole fucking Noah," he growled, eyeing her seriously. "Did you meet him?"

Reiichi froze, not really liking where this was going. "He…took me out for lunch," she admitted, wincing when his grip on her tightened.

"WHAT?" he demanded angrily, eye blazing. "HE FUCKING DID WHAT?"

"Kanda!" she tried to calm him down, but the model was too busy rattling off a lot of uncensored expletives at the moment. "Kanda! Kanda, please!" she shouted, willing him to stop. "He didn't do anything. I went willingly,"

"You…what did you say?" he asked, voice deathly quiet as he looked at her seriously. "You went _willingly_?" a tone of disgust started to slip into his words.

"Kanda—"

"How many fucking times did I tell you not the meet that fucking asshole?" he ranted furiously, unable to believe it. "Why do you always always_ always_ never goddamn listen to me?"

"I do listen to you," she sighed. "But only after I pass my own judgment,"

"Your judgment is fucking fantastic then," he snarled. "Why did you agree to meet that bitch?"

"He wanted to talk with me about some things—"

"Some things?" he scoffed. "Be more specific,"

"I was getting to that," she glared at him, but at least he wasn't shouting.

"Rei…I'm not in the damn mood," he soured, obvious waves of displeasure radiating. "Tell me if he fucking did anything and I mean _now_,"

"Kanda," she looked at him meaningfully in the eyes. "Mikk did not try anything with me this time. Can you trust me on that?"

The Japanese stared back unflinching for a minute, then he shut his eyes exasperatedly. "I trust you, not that fucking asshole," he bristled for a moment. "So, are you going to continue?"

"Mikk wanted to know if I would accept his offer—"

"What offer?" he narrowed his eyes.

"The one about…" she swallowed reluctantly. "Dating him,"

"WHAT THE FUCK? YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THIS!"

"The last time," she glared at him a little, "You walked away from me," the redhead frowned, remembering their other stupid fight. "Anyway I declined—"

"Tch, no shit Sherlock,"

"—and he confirmed that they were involved with our car crash—"

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!" Kanda roared, looking positively livid. "THAT FUCKING GODDAMN PIECE OF SHIT—"

Reiichi's ears were starting to feel abused by his language, and she tugged him a little to make him stop. "Listen!" she rolled her eyes, "Their intention was not to kill us, but—"

"Bullshit," he immediately cut her off, lips in a permanent scowl. "Fucking bull_shit_—"

"Kanda, if you interrupt again I will not tell you anything," she frowned at him.

The model snorted, unhappy. "Fine,"

"He said it was just to scare us into thinking they'll stop at nothing to get us over," she continued. "Not that they were aiming to kill us at all,"

"Not for a fucking second will I believe any shit that comes out from his goddamn mouth,"

"Well I don't really believe him either, but that was what he said,"

"What else?" he demanded. "I know you still have something else to say,"

Well there was something else, but she didn't particularly want to tell him about it. But considering how he was adamant about knowing—the glare that spelled seriousness was clue enough—she sighed reluctantly.

"Well…the other time Mikk was talking about kicking you off the chessboard…" she watched carefully for that growing annoyance in his eyes as he remembered. "I assumed he was talking about your position as the top model in Japan…but…" she grimaced slightly, not knowing how to phrase the rest of it, but eventually decided on Tyki's exact words. "…he was talking about my heart,"

"What the fuck?" Kanda frowned. "Your heart?"

"He meant—"

"I know what he fucking meant," he growled dangerously. "As if I would ever lose to that goddamn son of a bitch—" he snarled, hand on her suddenly clamped rather tight and she placed hers over it gently.

"Kanda, you know that I…" she trailed off quietly, squeezing his hand and hoping he'd understand her.

She felt him relax a little bit, but then he still continued to train his gaze on her. "What did you say?"

"I said…" she paused a little, turning away to look at her lap. "You had him at…at…_checkmate_," she stuttered at the last part, blushing, realizing with horror how she had said it so nonchalantly to Tyki.

"Good," he said bluntly.

"Good?" she turned to look at him incredulously. "T-that was entirely embarrassing!"

"But it's true, isn't it?" he raised an eyebrow, not understanding her reaction. "Anyway don't ever meet that fucking Noah ever again. I don't particularly care if he wants to talk any shit—he can go bag his own _face_," he spat. "Understand?"

"Kanda," she sighed. There was one thing she had yet to come to an understanding with him was about the people she met. "Whoever I choose to meet—"

"Why are you so stuck on meeting that piece of trash?" he growled, frustrated. "Is there something about that asshole that I'm not? Why do you have to insist—"

"I _don't _insist on meeting him," she stated firmly, frowning a bit. "I'm just saying that…" she watched as the scowl on his face deepened. "Kanda…are you…" she looked at him uncertainly. "Are you jealous?"

"I'm _not _jealous," he denied it immediately, crossing his arms. "I just hate the mother fucking _Noah_," he scoffed, turning his head away.

The living room lapsed into silence, with only the fan that was switched on to cool the room making whirly noises. Her heart sunk just a tiny bit. There again, he was harping on his resentment for the Noah. The cause of it all was Lulubell, wasn't it? She had _wanted_ him to be jealous—it was an entirely selfish reason, even if she knew him admitting it was like another big bang—but in the end, it wasn't about her after all.

"Kanda…" Reiichi started quietly, remembering what Tyki had said to her in the afternoon. "Can I ask about…Lulubell?"

"Why, are_ you _jealous about her?" he retorted, feeling a bit sulky that she actually accused him of such. Jealous? Hah.

"I am, actually," she answered back softly, a downcast gaze to her lap.

Kanda paused, not expecting the honest answer. He scrutinized her for a minute, then leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "What do you want to know about her?" he asked, voice empty of emotion.

"Was she really your…girlfriend, for a period of time?"

The ceiling was white. Too white. "I wouldn't call her anything like that," he scoffed eventually, "She…she just slept with me," he frowned and added, "On more than one occasion," the silence between them was so thick; a knife wouldn't have cut it. "I thought she…" he said finally, voice slightly raw. "...she... _understood_ me," he let out a bitter snort that Reiichi's heart clenched at. "In the end it was all the for the sake of her goddamn family,"

She closed her eyes, forcing herself to ask the most important question. "Did you…love her?"

Kanda kept silent, staring at the ceiling.

"T-thanks for telling me," Reiichi said finally when Kanda seemed like he was not going to answer.

Did he love her? Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. It still _hurt_, nonetheless. And it hurt rather deeply at that.

Kanda glanced over when he realized a few minutes later that the atmosphere had gotten pretty tight with tension, and that Reiichi was staring off into space, head turned away from him. He reached over and traced her jawline lightly with his right hand, cupping her cheek to turn her face to look at him. She looked back at him reluctantly, and he saw a flicker of emotions through her eyes, the one striking him most was _hurt_. "Rei…I don't…" he felt like he had to say, but he didn't really know what he was going to say.

Reiichi cast her gaze away from him, not able to meet his eyes at the moment. She felt entirely open and vulnerable for some reason, not able to keep in her feelings. She just _felt_ too much—jealousy at Lulubell or trying to come to terms with the fact that Kanda had for one time, cared about another girl that was not her. She realized she just couldn't stand the thought of anyone else with him. She was starting to understand why girls did drastic things in the fit of jealousy—say, Matsumoto's example for one. She didn't know Lulubell, never spoke with her, but yet she wished Lulubell had never met Kanda, had never been with him, or perhaps, had never even _existed_. It was scary, because she never knew how heartless she could be, wishing for something like that.

Kanda leaned forwards and met her lips softly, tongue darting out to taste her lightly. He didn't rush, didn't push, but instead caressed the bottom of her jaw softly with his fingers. He sucked on her bottom lip softly, in a way that was actually _tender_. A few moments he released her, suddenly registering that he had done something rather sweet and intimate without thinking.

Reiichi blinked with surprise, breathing lightly and licking her lips once to ensure that she wasn't dreaming. She never knew Kanda was actually capable for kissing like that—which now felt like a really stupid assumption—and she started to flush when Kanda was still staring at her cupping her cheek. First a twitch at the corner of her lips that gave away the smile she bit back, and then averting her eyes away to anything else but him, and lastly, she could even feel the heat that emanated from her face.

It was a _moment_—and with a slightly trembling hand she reached up to touch his hand that was on her cheek, heart pumping so fast she was sure he could hear it. She didn't know how it was possible, but she just felt like she was falling harder and harder for him. It was the kind of sweet considerate things he did in private for her that told her he understood her well. Meeting his gaze again, she noticed that he was slightly embarrassed—perhaps just noticing what he had done—for his eyes darted away once, and she wanted the moment to last forever, even if she felt like she wasn't breathing and going to faint.

And it did last, that is, until Kanda opened his mouth, scowling.

"You still smell like the asshole,"

* * *

**Owari.**

Because I have awesome results, this chapter is a present for you guys 8D

Did I just maul Kanda's canon bitchy character with his kiss? :/ You know, I can't get over how drastically different Kanda acts with Alma in the Kanda arc that I keep thinking it's a doujinshi HAHAHA

All the girls mentioned are canon.

Moor is the policewoman Allen helped in the beginning, Emilia is that French girl (whom I honestly thought was blonde) who thinks Kanda is handsome and is constantly groped by Timothy, and Lou Fa, well, you should know Lou Fa. Twi Chan is Bak Chan's mother who died when Alma went berserk, and Renny is involved in the Third Exorcist project.

I love Emy! Now, at least. Yeah I had the whole 'why is this girl drooling over _my _Kanda' jealousy thing against her in the Timothy arc hahaha.

Tyki, well, I had to bring him back at some point to clear things up. Maybe what he is saying is true, or maybe he's lying, who knows? But I just can't make him a hateable character, because he's still one of my strong bias :D But I think I skimped on his parts quite a bit...

Just to talk about the Noah, I believe the Noah sabotage/trying to get them thing will continue as long as they live. Like, it doesn't have an ending because Kanda will never go over and either will the Noah give up. Take it as life—it's a journey, it doesn't end. While it does sound like a poor excuse to pardon my bad plot planning, it was intended from the very beginning :D

I still have some scenes I want to write, so I guess...not the end yet? :D


	34. Cosplay Date

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

_Cosplay Special_

_aka_

_Lavi's birthday present_

* * *

_Aimo aimo_

_Neder rushe_

_Noina miria_

_Ender prodea_

_Fotomi_

_Koko wa attaka na umi dayo_

* * *

In all his 20 years of his life, Lavi had known Kanda for 6, and it was going on to 7, but Kanda had never once given him a birthday present. In fact, he couldn't remember if there was a day in which Kanda actually celebrated his birthday, come to think of it. It kind of sucked to have a best friend who was such a douchebag, but it can't be helped. It was one of his friend's cute points after all.

But it still didn't mean he couldn't try.

"Ne, Yuu-chan…" he prodded the pointedly ignoring model reading the newspapers, whining loudly. "My birthday's in four days,"

Kanda shifted a little, still ignoring him.

"I want a present from Yuuuu~" Lavi drawled annoyingly, causing the Japanese to cringe visibly. "Me want present! Me want present!"

"I don't fucking care," Kanda snapped, trying to wave him away. "Where the hell is Rei?" he muttered more to himself.

"Heh…missing her already?" the redhead grinned teasingly, wagging a finger at him. "She's in the bathroom, if you really want to know," he continued, a sly look in his eyes. "You could go call her or something,"

"She's making us late," Kanda scowled.

"Like I said, go call her out," Lavi shrugged.

The model scrutinised the photographer who just kept trying to look innocent for some reason, but then he realised he didn't really care after all. Getting up from the kitchen table, he went over to her door and rapped on it.

"Woman, what's taking you so long?" he called, but there was no answer. "Rei?"

It was still silent, so he knocked another time, still getting no response. "Rei, what the hell are you doing in there—" he began, hand trying the door knob and he found out that it was unlocked. Then again, he never really noticed if she locked her door or not. He frowned, deciding to just barge in. "Rei—"

Any words that he wanted to rant instantly died upon his lips when he opened the door, for the person he was looking for was staring back with equal shock. Reiichi also had one hand on a door knob, but that was the bathroom's door, and she was clutching a towel that was wrapped around her body to cover her chest. The towel's width was short—too short—because Kanda's eyes were trailing up her bare legs up to her thighs and—

He felt someone shove him rather forcefully from the back, causing him to stumble rather ungracefully into the room and would have sprawled on the ground, if not from his fast reflexes. "What the fuc—" he whipped around, only having a glimpse of one green eye that sparkled before the door slammed behind him.

It took Reiichi a few seconds to comprehend just what happened and she shrieked. "KANDA! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" she stepped in back into the bathroom and slammed the door, face heating up in embarrassment. "GET OUT!"

"I FUCKING CAN'T OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" he shouted back, snarling as he tried to wrench the knob open but failing rather badly. "USAGI GET THE FUCK BACK HERE AND OPEN THE GOODAMN DOOR!"

Only a whistle across the door greeted his ears and he whacked his own head against the door, groaning. "Usagi," he hissed, "If you don't open the door on the count of three…"

"You'll what?" Lavi sang cheerily unfazed. "Kill me? Well, haven't you tried that one too many times already?"

"Fuck you, usagi," Kanda growled, kicking the door once for good measure.

The bathroom door opened slightly and Reiichi poked her head out, refusing to look at Kanda. "Lavi, open the door, and let Kanda out," she started off calmly, but anger was starting to seep into her voice.

"Aww, but you'll thank me one day for this!" her cousin whined back, not budging.

"Trust me, I will _never_ thank you for this," she retorted back, cursing the retardedness that is her cousin whom merely cackled back.

"You have ten minutes, Rei-chan," Lavi grinned. "Or you'll really be late,"

Reiichi glanced at her clock and cursed again, pacing in the bathroom not knowing what to do. She always changed in her room since the bathroom floor was always too wet, and she never really locked her door because Kanda never came in when the door was closed, but today seemed like a different story.

"Rei, hurry up," Kanda grumbled outside. He was sitting down against the door obviously in a bad mood.

"I can't step out, you idiot!" she frowned through the crack at the bathroom door, "I'm only wearing a towel!"

"Not like it's nothing I haven't seen before," he rolled his eyes, but apparently that was not the answer she was looking for.

The silence that came after that was loud and pretty _painful_.

"…Woman?"

"I've never said anything about you sleeping with other girls but that was…that was…" Reiichi clenched her fists, and her voice sounded visibly upset.

He felt a stab of guilt, scowling slightly. Sighing irritably, he got up and stalked over, yanking the bathroom door open and ignoring her small scream of shock.

"K-kanda, what are you…" she edged away, face red from mortification as she tried to cover herself as much as possible without causing the towel to slip.

He grabbed her wrist, pulling her out and shoving her towards the closet, turning away to stand back to back behind her. "I won't look," he stated. "So hurry up,"

There was another still minute of silence before he heard a rustle and he knew she was changing. He tried to not let his mind wander, choosing to focus on other things in her room, like the desk that was now littering with files and papers full of sketches, the bed that had a few soft toys on it...and there was a small notebook that poked from beneath her pillow. Was that a diary?

"Okay," Reiichi's voice sounded from behind him. "I'm done," she gathered the dirty laundry and started folding them, neat stacks appearing within seconds.

"Why did you take so long?" was the first thing he demanded, eyes flicking to the clock.

"My shower head was botched," she sighed, knowing the reason why it was botched now. Idiot cousin.

Reiichi straightened up once her clothes her folded and tried to give him a smile, but she couldn't really meet his eyes. "Well, let's go then—"

Kanda reached out suddenly and pulled her into a kiss, mouth attacking hers passionately and she blushed heavily, hands reaching up to grasp the front of his shirt before her legs gave away to the sheer _intensity_ of his move. It was one thing to kiss him, it was another to kiss him first thing in the morning. He tasted like the green tea he was probably drinking, a slight bitter but addictive flavour that prompted her to respond back. A minute later he pulled back and looked seriously at her, jaw set grimly. He kept silent, not knowing what he had wanted to say, or that he even planned to say anything at all. Reiichi offered a shy awkward smile back, releasing her grip slowly.

"Couldn't take your hands off each other?"

Both of them jumped a few metres apart, blushing equally hard as Lavi grinned at both of them, leaning lazily against the now open door. The male redhead watched interestingly as Reiichi's eyes widened in clear embarrassment and she tried to cover her already red face, while Kanda turned his flushed cheeks and death eyes upon him and started to advance.

Perhaps it was a sign to run.

"USAGI YOU GET BACK HERE!"

* * *

After the extremely _uneventful_ morning, they went to work as per usual. Poor Kanda, he was starting to consider going up the offices because Lavi just won't shut up about his birthday, even if it was still four more days away, that dork. After all Lavi put him through, cough, like this morning, cough, was he really obligated to give something to the redhead freak? Wasn't just being his friend an honour by itself?

"Usagi…" he hissed, feeling so irritated that he was one step away from storming out and taking the elevator up, "Shut. The. Fuck. Up,"

It wasn't a request, but an order. It was riding on his nerves so much that he started to prefer Lavi teasing him about Reiichi any day, because those were more tolerable, since well, he did kind of like her and she always reacted in a way that boosted his ego even more than it should be. Hey, he was a model, he was allowed to have confidence.

"But Yuu…" oh god the idiot wasn't shutting up. Didn't they have something productive to do today? "I want something from you this year," the redhead sobbed, whined, annoyed him for all he was worth. "If you can die for me, I don't see what's so hard about giving me a present!"

"I will _never_ die for you," he retorted back mercilessly. "You don't need a fucking present, retard. You can go buy whatever shit you want with your own goddamn money,"

"It's the thought that counts—"

"I'll show you what I fucking think—"

"Er, guys, what's going on?"

Both of them turned to look at the doorway of the kitchen, spotting Reiichi looking at them with a rather suspicious look. In her defence, they looked like they were doing something rather questionable. For some reason, Kanda had his shirt off and was currently pressing her cousin against the kitchen counter, while Lavi seemed not at all bothered that he had a half naked man trying to strangle him with one leg shoved between both of his to prevent him from escaping.

"Yuu~" Lavi cooed, a smirk riding on the edge of his lips. "I'm feeling something _hard_ down there,"

Kanda jumped back like he had been burned by fire, face flushed with indignation and anger. "I'm not fucking turned on!" he snarled, feeling rather sick that Lavi actually said something like that.

Eww.

Ugh.

"Did I say that?" Lavi brushed himself nonchalantly, straightening up. "I meant your phone," he grinned at how red his friend's face was going. It was like a mixture of fury and embarrassment. How cute. "Oh ho, Yuu, what exactly were you thinking, hmm?"

"I wasn't—fuck—I—" the model spluttered, groaning exasperatedly and eventually deciding on just two words. "Fuck you," he hated how Lavi was grinning like a mad man, that skeezer.

"Now, Rei-chan," Lavi bounced over to his cousin who just stared in shock, horror, or disbelief, he couldn't really tell. "Don't give that face. Your boyfriend's libido is just rather high—"

Kanda shoved Lavi, hard. "Don't fucking talk about my sex you fucking idiot," he snarled.

Reiichi just burned with embarrassment, not knowing what she was supposed to say. Or if she was supposed to say anything at all. The thought of Kanda having a…okay, nevermind, it was better to clear her mind now. Purge. Think normal things.

"Fantasizing, eh?" Lavi whispered to her, ducking the swipes that Kanda was trying to make at him.

She blushed even harder, eyes widening in mortification as she kicked him and hauled him roughly by the collar. "Shut up, Lavi," she hissed, unable to believe how much her cousin just liked to torture her, especially in Kanda's presence. "Shut up,"

Kanda finally whacked the back of Lavi's head and huffed angrily. "One day," he threatened. "One fucking _fine_ day I will murder your fucking ass,"

Lavi pried Reiichi's fingers away from his shirt and hugged her, ignoring the death threat by his best friend. "Aww, don't be angry, Rei-chan," he patted her, squeezing her tightly, kissing her lightly by the cheek to which Kanda cringed and looked away. "I've missed you~"

"I saw you this morning," Reiichi sighed, but she relaxed, anger slowly seeping away.

"Does that mean you didn't miss me?" her cousin pulled back and demanded. "Is there a law saying that I can't miss you?"

Reiichi blinked at the sudden ferocity. "Uh, no…"

"You love me, right?" Lavi asked seriously.

She furrowed her eyebrows, not really getting where he was going with all the random questions. "You know I do,"

Lavi's lips melted into a cheesy smile. "Does that mean you're going to give me a present for my birthday?" he asked hopefully.

"I always give you a present," Reiichi answered, confused.

"SEE!" Lavi whirled towards Kanda who had tuned out their cheesy disgusting conversation. "EVEN REI-CHAN IS GIVING ME A PRESENT!"

"What do you mean "even"?" Kanda retorted easily. "She's the first person that would give you your fucking present,"

"That's true," Lavi agreed unabashed. "But you love me! And you don't want to give me a present! Where's the logic in that?"

"I don't fucking _love_ you," the model spat, rolling his eyes. "I'm not going to give you a present, so deal with it, loser,"

Lavi sobbed dramatically. "Rei-chan, can you convince your boyfriend to play the part of a best friend and give me a present this year?" he begged, whining.

"It seems like he doesn't want to give you one," she replied back simply, shrugging. Then she turned towards Kanda and frowned. "Why are you not wearing a shirt?"

"Am I not allowed to not wear a shirt?" he raised an eyebrow, smirking just a little bit. He could tell she was desperately trying not to look at him, but it was failing.

"But don't you want to ogle at his perfectly chiselled and well defined abs—" Lavi started, but was cut off by Kanda.

Honestly, hearing that from a guy was rather disturbing, not to mention it was his supposedly best friend. "If you really want to know," Kanda huffed. "All of it is your cousin's fault," he glared at the other. "He ruined my shirt,"

"It was an accident!" the other denied.

"Che yeah, who the hell eats ice cream in the goddamn morning?" Kanda snorted. "You totally wanted to get that on my shirt, you ass,"

"Honest accident, Yuu," Lavi grumbled. "Anyway, you like parading around shirtless in front of Rei-chan, don't you?" he smirked. "Your shirt was probably dry since an hour ago,"

"Shut the fuck up," Kanda sniffed, standing up to head out of the kitchen, presumably to find his shirt.

"Really, Lavi, ice cream?" Reiichi raised an eyebrow unimpressed as she watched Kanda walk out.

"There was nothing else in fridge, and I was hungry," he defended. Huh. Seriously, when it was an honest mistake, no one believed him. "Rei-chan, why don't you call Yuu by his first name?" he asked suddenly.

"Hmm? Say that again?" Reiichi mumbled, head in the fridge to find a drink.

"Yuu," he stated again, waiting for her to sit down beside him before continuing. "Call him by his first name,"

She paused before she opened the can of green tea, blinking. "…What for?"

He looked incredulous. "Aren't you dating him? Using his first name is kind of special, so you should use it!"

"I'm not—" she immediately started, but it was futile.

"You are dating him, period," her cousin declared, not caring at all. "Anyway he uses yours, so what's the big deal?" he raised an eyebrow. "Use it, yes? Yes?"

"How about no," she rolled her eyes, taking a sip.

"Why not?" he whined, swiping the drink off her, waving the hands that tried to take the drink back.

"Because…" she started, watching him drink her can with slight annoyance. He only looked back at her expectantly. "It's kind of…well," she sighed. "Only people in Kanda's childhood call him that, you know? With the exception of you of course," she added. "And I'm fine with his last name,"

"But everybody else calls him 'Kanda'!" he protested. "It's not nearly as awesome as 'Yuu'!"

"I had the impression that 'Kanda' was a relatively rare last name," she snorted, stealing the drink back after his gulp.

"Well, you will be a 'Kanda' too eventually,"

Reiichi nearly spat out her tea. "I.." she blushed, knowing exactly what he was trying to imply. She huffed, trying to keep calm. "Lavi, just…stop it,"

Lavi grinned. "I will, if you use his first name,"

"No," she said firmly.

"Yuu-chan and Rei-chan sitting in a tree~" her obnoxious cousin started singing, much to her humiliation. "K-i-s-s—OW OKAY—OWWWW!" he pouted, rubbing his sore shin that got repeatedly abused. "That hurt!"

"That was the point," she sniffed.

Though, it was never enough for Lavi to learn. "Come on, just this once," he whined.

"No,"

Lavi frowned, thinking of a way that will force her to agree. "I'll make a deal with you," he decided eventually.

"…What kind of deal?" she asked suspiciously.

"Call the man by his first name once, and I'll stop bugging you about it!"

She crossed her arms, unimpressed. Honestly, was this the best he could do? "You could just stop bugging me now,"

"Not happening," he grinned, wriggling his finger at her lazily. "Deal?"

"I don't even know why I'm even considering this," she muttered.

"Because you love me," he replied in a heartbeat. "Since you've agreed—"

"I didn't agree yet!"

Lavi didn't even bat an eyelid. "You considered, so it means that you agree! Anyway, since you have agreed, these are my terms," a creepy grin crept over his features. "Either you call him by his first name in front of me, or you call him that in private and tell me what Yuu says after that by this week," he went on, ignoring the protest that she obviously want to say. "I'll keep to my end of the deal and never ask you to call him by his first name until you're married,"

"No, you don't even bug me about it as long as I live and into after life," she corrected.

Lavi frowned. "Until your first child,"

"Lavi!" Reiichi smacked him painfully on the shoulder, flushing. "Will you stop that?" she demanded. "Any more, and the deal is off," she threatened.

"Fine," he pouted, sticking out his smallest finger. "Deal?"

"We're not kids, Lavi," but she smiled dryly and hooked the finger with her own pinky, pressing their thumbs together. "Deal,"

Lavi held on tight to her finger, not letting go. "Actually, there's another deal I wanna make with you," he paused for a moment. "Do you think you can make Yuu give me a present?"

* * *

"...You're his best friend, and you've never given him a birthday present," Reiichi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "..Ever."

Kanda didn't reply, opting to put his feet up and grabbed the remote, leaning back on the couch. It was too early to swim, and he was feeling too full from dinner to do anything else anyway. It wasn't like he was making an effort to spend more time with Reiichi. Just saying.

"Ever," Reiichi repeated disbelievingly. "Ever."

"I thought you knew," he rolled his eyes, waving her away from standing in front of him.

"No, I thought you just didn't feel like giving him a present _this_ year," she pressed on. "I can't believe in the past what, six or seven years you never bothered!"

"The truth hurts, who cares. Now let me watch," Kanda huffed irritably, flipping through the channels.

"But you're his best friend!"

"And I don't give a damn," he replied easily. "I don't care about birthdays or whatever shit holidays which involves _giving_—"

"You're such a jerk, you know that?" Reiichi slid into the couch next to him, watching him flip the channels so fast, they were in a blur. "Lavi's always psyched about your birthday till_I_ even know that day it is - 6th June - and you don't care about his?"

"I never asked him to give me all that crap,"

Pause. "Well, I admit he did give you the most useless things—"

"Like a crossword puzzle book? A scented candle? A rock? A _paper weight_?" Kanda turned to look her to prove his point. "What the hell do you do with a paper weight?"

"Weigh down paper?"

"Does it look like I need a paper weight?" he gestured around.

"Point," she conceded. "But he's your _best__friend_," she emphasized.

Kanda nearly laughed. "You think that I have an insane _wackjob_ as my best friend? Are you kidding me?"

Reiichi sighed. "I knew it. Lavi's been living a delusional life with his non-existent BFF,"

"So now you know," he concluded, turning back to the television.

Shucks, there was nothing to watch, he thought absently, flicking the channels back to where he started browsing. Reiichi took the remote off his hands seeing as how he was so undecided on the channel, switching it to one that she was familiar with.

"How about sharing his present with me?" she asked, pressing the next button repeatedly.

He scowled, not really understanding why she was suddenly so insistent on this. "Didn't you get him one already?"

"Nope. I was waiting for the right place to buy it and it so happens that it's this weekend,"

Waiting for the right place? That sounded a little odd. "No," he refused.

"Come on, he'll be happy," she finally settled on some cooking channel, muting it for the moment and turning to him.

"Rei, your cousin is retardedly happy even without the _drugs_," he deadpanned.

That's true. "Please?" she asked nicely, smiling expectantly.

Kanda merely looked at her, not impressed. "Convince me," he smirked, folding his arms. Was it her own imagination that his voice suddenly went more…husky?

"I can…" she cursed, remembering the last time she tried to bribe him and failed. "…cook soba for you,"

"You and I both know I'm the better cook," he raised an eyebrow.

Reiichi huffed, thinking hard. What could she do to convince him? Honestly she didn't know. The last time, she said something about cleaning his house, his car, his sword, but all were refused. As far as she knew, soba was probably the only thing she could have used to persuade him, but it was rejected. She scowled after a few minutes of silent thinking.

"…You just want me to say "I'll do anything you want", isn't that right?" she grumbled.

"Probably," he smirked, shrugging.

"So," she sighed. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" he murmured, turning to gaze at her intensely, and then he started to come closer to her, to which she looked around nervously, backing away.

"K-kanda, um, could you not—" she stuttered, well aware of how he was advancing like a predator to a prey, eyes gleaming with something dark and sinful, a permanent smirk curled on his lips.

"You said _anything_, didn't you?" he drawled, voice low and sensuous, jolting a streak of fire that went down her spine.

"B-but—" the way he stalked towards her nearly made her heart stop, for he just radiated so much _want_ that she was starting to feel rather intimidated. She continued to back away uneasily and nearly squeaked when she realised she was nearly falling off the edge of the couch.

Kanda merely smirked wider, revealing a tiny bit of his canines. Slowly he wrapped one hand around her shoulder, purposely brushing any revealed skin with his fingers, causing her breath to hitch. She blushed hard, realising that he was watching every single reaction of her body, and that thought nearly sent her brain on overdrive, because she wanted to _die_ of embarrassment. Words were just stuck in her throat—then again, it wasn't like she was thinking at this point. He leaned forwards and she shut her eyes, anticipating a kiss.

But nothing of the sort came.

Suddenly a heated breath passed the base of her jaw and she jolted her eyes open, blood rushing directly to her face. Another breath blew past, this time, lower on her neck and she let out a small gasp, squirming at the suddenly her entire neck just felt like it was on fire. Kanda held her still, a small dark chuckle passed his lips and she felt small puffs of breaths from that.

"Kan—ah—" she arched slightly when his other hand came to touch the other side of her neck gently, pads of his fingers slowly tracing an unknown pattern on her skin. His lips brushed against her collarbone, eliciting another hitch from her—and with shaky hands she grabbed the front of his shirt and grasped tightly, not able to take the sudden onslaught of sensations that crawled up her neck and spread throughout her entire body.

Kanda moved towards her lips, mouth never making much contact but being close enough for her to feel his presence, all while making sure that he was making eye contact with her. With one finger, he dragged it along her jaw line and titled her chin up, feeling the shiver that trembled throughout her body, watched as she closed her eyes immediately, unconsciously, clenching her grip on his shirt tighter and tugging him forwards.

Nothing came.

A few still seconds later, Reiichi slowly opened her eyes, Kanda's smirking face very prominent in her vision.

"You jerk!" she flushed with mortification, shoving him away and scrambled to her feet. "W-what was…what was that for?" she demanded, still horrified that he had just been playing the past few minutes.

"You seemed like you wanted it," he shrugged, causing her to redden even further.

Reiichi gave out a strangled noise of frustration, glaring at him. "You're coming with me on Saturday," she seethed as much as she could without breaking into a stutter, turning away with a huff and storming back to her room.

Kanda only smirked.

* * *

Saturday came pretty quickly; well, maybe because it was just a day or so away. Whatever. Reiichi pulled Kanda into her room after breakfast, reaching into her closet and taking out a shirt and pants combination on a hanger. It looked pretty simple, long blue pants and a white shirt with the shoulders in blue and a logo of a plane with three stars on the left. There was also a red tie with a cross on it.

"Why the hell do I have to wear this?" Kanda eyed the outfit Reiichi was trying to make him take with a bit of disgust. "It's a damn uniform!"

"Because," she sighed, trying to force him to take it. "We need to blend in,"

"No, I'll look like some stupid freak!" he growled. "How the hell is this blending in?"

"Kanda," maybe she should have told him this earlier, but then again, she was still annoyed at how he had played her that day. "We're going to a cosplay convention—"

"A WHAT?" his disbelief was clearly felt by her.

"Cosplay convention," she repeated for his sake.

"Why do we have to go to some freak gathering?" he demanded. "Shit, everyone there is going to be another usagi—"

"We're getting Lavi a figurine that can only be bought from there," she explained. "He had wanted it since forever, and there are only a limited number of pieces produced. At the convention, I believe there's this person who is reselling it,"

"And how do you know this?" he asked suspiciously.

"…The internet?" she replied as though obvious.

"Fine, okay," he understood that part. "But that doesn't mean I have to dress up like one of the freaks!"

"Disguise, Kanda," she tapped her foot impatiently. "You do know what will happen if you went there as _Kanda Yuu_, don't you?"

Yes he did know, he inwardly grumbled. He hadn't forgotten all the times he was molested, nearly raped, you know, the usual. "That's why I don't want to go," he sniffed.

"Too bad, you are," she glared at him, daring him to back out. "Now go change and come back when you're done," she pressed the hanger into his chest, pushing him out of the room.

When he came back in uniform with a rather disgruntled expression, Reiichi had successfully put her contacts and long light pink wig on, adjusting the corners and pining a clip, just to be safe.

"What the hell is that?" he stared at her, frowning. He didn't really like how different she suddenly looked, especially since she was wearing blue contacts and the colour was just something he wasn't used to.

Reiichi ignored his question, standing up and gesturing him to sit on the chair. He did so reluctantly, staring at a mirror she had placed on the desk and feeling like he was in a makeup room. She let loose his ponytail, combing her fingers through his long tresses gently and gathered the front bangs he usually left alone up, hands expertly tying a ponytail with a red string. In his honest opinion, he still looked exactly the same. Anyone would have been fucking _blind_ to not recognise him. He told her that rather plainly.

Reiichi scowled slightly. "I thought you wouldn't want to wear a wig,"

"I don't," he agreed. "So can we not go?"

She gave him a look that said they were going no matter what, and he frowned at that. Weaving his hand through his hair, he just stared back into his reflection and wondered why the hell he was going through all this.

"Who the hell am I supposed to be again?" he asked, still scrutinising his face.

"Alto. Saotome Alto," she replied, adjusting the back of his shirt a little.

"Aldro—what?" he swore he had heard fucking _adoration_ in her voice.

"Alto," she repeated, shaking her head at how he always defiled names. "Ever watched Macross Frontier?"

Kanda frowned. It sounded stupid, like all the other shows. "What's the hell is that?"

"It's something like Gundam, only with a love triangle," then she paused. "Oh wait, Gundam does have a love triangle,"

Well, seeing as how he had never watched Gundam or whatever, it wasn't quite helpful. "Be more specific, woman,"

Reiichi thought for a moment. "I'll show you," she decided finally, flipping her laptop on the desk open and opening a media file with a few clicks. "Watch this,"

* * *

"You're telling me this stupid show is about some stupid alien trying to kill mankind and singing is the only thing that can save their stupid colony?" Kanda voiced his clear disbelief at how ah, _stupid_, pardon the overuse of the word, the show was. "This is more shit than that show with the blonde bitch—"

"His name is Cloud," she glared at him, annoyed.

"Tch, whatever," he snorted in a tone that told her he didn't really care. "Fuck, he looks so _gay_," he commented, eyes watching one of the episodes of the anime that she was showing to him with barely concealed disgust.

"Kanda, I don't think you're qualified to make that statement," she nearly laughed, grinning. "You look _exactly_ like Alto does,"

"No I don't," he spat, cringing as the man they were talking about blushed on screen as he talked to a green clad girl. As if he would ever do that. "I don't look so damn _weak_,"

Reiichi let slip a snort that clearly told him she thought otherwise.

"And who are you supposed to be?" he asked, suddenly noticing that she was wearing the exact same outfit as the female in the anime, a green loose top and black shorts, plus black high socks. The pink hair was also pretty similar, as was the blue eyes.

"I'm Sheryl," she smiled through the mirror at him, words freakishly in tune with the character on her laptop. "Sheryl Nome,"

* * *

Kanda took his red Ferrari because he could at least choose what car he wanted to drive—and it wasn't like Reiichi protested or anything. In fact, she looked rather happy when she commented that Sherry—_Sheryl_—whatever, drove a red sports car as well. The convention was held in town, and Kanda didn't realise that Japan had so many like minded _freaks_, seeing that the event was rather big. There were about a ton of people milling about in various costumes and weird hair, and that was just outside a building that they were all queuing to get into. Naturally everyone turned to eye his car when he drove into the carpark, but he sped (dangerously, Reiichi would add) all the way to the top where it was pretty empty.

Kanda rubbed his eyes a little, still not used to the light brown contacts he was wearing. As if changing his eye colour was totally going to disguise him. _Not_. He checked himself one last time in the rear view mirror, ignoring the eye roll that Reiichi didn't bother to hide and let himself out of the car. Reiichi hopped out of her side own her own, adjusting her clothes and tapping the sliver boots she wore on the ground gingerly. Then she realised Kanda was staring at her, eyes roaming over her body and she stopped fidgeting.

"Kanda?" she peered at him. "Something wrong?"

His eyes snapped back to her face, a faint tint of pink was barely apparent, as though he was guilty of something. "Those shorts," he frowned. "Too short,"

Reiichi glanced at her shorts. "Well, they are shorter then I what I usually wear," she agreed, then shrugged, pulling out a pair of sunglasses from one of the pockets and sliding them on. "But I'm Sheryl Nome now," she smirked in an almost arrogant like manner that he just stared in shock.

It seemed like Kanda didn't get her, so she explained as they started walking towards the lift to get out of the carpark. "When you cosplay a character," she started. "You have to _become_ the character. It's something like acting, in a sense,"

"So you're being a bitch because—"

She scowled at him. "I'm not _bitchy_,"

"Then what was the whole," he tried to mimic her, a smug expression and all that, "_'But I'm Sheryl Nome now_'," he rolled his eyes.

"Is it any different from," she raised an eyebrow at him. "'I'm_ Kanda Yuu'_?" she questioned mockingly.

"I never said that cliché shit," he denied.

"The way you walk says it all, Kanda," she shook her head. "Anyway, do you remember your character?"

"Saoteme Alfred—"

"Saotome Alto," she corrected sighing.

"Whatever," he crossed his arms, not caring. "Professional flyer of some private military, was a gay actor and then quit despite his father's bitching, a two timer douchebag, and wears a girly earring because he's outrightly _gay_,"

"Kanda…." she groaned. "He's _not_ gay, will you give that up?"

"No, I won't let that down,"

Reiichi paused in her step. "D-did you just crack a joke?" she turned to him incredulously to which he ignored and sauntered past her. She ran to catch up. "In any case," she huffed, "Alto was a kabuki actor who _isn't_ gay and he keeps Sheryl's earring because it conveys her feelings and—" she gave him a look that cut off any question that he wanted to voice, "—he did _not_ two time the girls," she frowned. "He was just dense,"

He shrugged. "Sounds like a stupid excuse,"

They reached the lifts and pressed the button, the door immediately opening for them as though it had been waiting all along.

"Anyway, Alto ended up with Sheryl in the end, so he did choose one of them eventually," Reiichi said, and then glanced at him as they rode the elevator down the levels. "Kanda, will you stop scowling every other second?"

"Are you expecting me to smile?" he asked back with a flat look.

"No, " because well, him smiling voluntarily was just a scary thought. "Just…don't look so angry all the time," she smiled slightly. "You aren't _Kanda Yuu_ today,"

* * *

If Kanda thought the outside was crowded, then the inside of it all was pure hectic. In fact, he was seriously considering to drag Reiichi back to the car after they entered the building, since he did not particularly like people _touching_ him. They and the other freaks were all trying to squeeze their way through, some sticky arms of people brushing past him, and all he could smell was sweat, sweat, and more sweat. He sorely wanted to puke. He grinded his teeth, annoyed. One second later he started to shove people out of his way, unable to keep his patience, ignoring the indignant curses directed at him as he more or less moved forward.

Reiichi spotted him slipping through the crowd and she tried to follow, only that the gap he created when he moved was immediately filled with someone else's body.

"Kan—" she shut her mouth before she blurted out his name, suddenly remembering that the point of them cosplaying today was so that he wouldn't be recognised. She groaned when she saw him getting further. "Alto!" she called, hoping that he at least remembered the name she was trying to drill into him in the car. "ALTO!"

Unfortunately, either the crowd was making so much noise that he didn't hear her, or that he actually forgot his character's name.

She sighed heavily, knowing that there was only one choice left. "YUU!" she shouted, praying that his first name was not as famous as his family name.

Up ahead, Kanda immediately stilled, whipping back to the source of the voice and frowned when he saw her a distance away from him He scowled, shoving people out of the way again as he stormed back and grabbed her wrist, pulling her forwards.

After a few minutes of being dragged, Reiichi finally stumbled out of the human sardine pack, breathing heavily. Kanda was fanning himself, leaning against the wall as he cooled down. Reiichi peered around, noticing that they were in the area of the booths selling doujinshis, art works, and more importantly, figurines. They were in the right place.

Suddenly, Kanda looked at her directly. "What did you call me?"

She froze, already forgotten that she had so conveniently used his first name. "Sorry, you just didn't respond to me when I called you and your last name is particularly troublesome to shout," she explained, hoping that he would stop looking at her like that.

He pursed his lips, frowning, and she grew slightly apprehensive. "Say it again," he stated.

"W-what?" she blinked, not expecting that at all.

"Say my name again," he repeated, grabbing her wrist to make sure she didn't try to run away or something.

"Um," she willed herself to calm down, trying not make it a big deal, but unfortunately it was. Just a few minutes ago she had done it because there was no other choice, but now, it was remarkably different. Saying it now had a rather _intimate_ connotation to it. "Er…um…" honestly she was trying to say his name, but it was a bit difficult considering how she had started blushing and there was no turning back.

He looked at her expectantly, waiting.

"..Y-yuu," she finally stuttered, cursing herself for being such an idiot and overreacting to every single thing. She didn't get why he had wanted her to say his first name, but she was putting it down to seeing her being flustered. Again. Ugh.

Kanda paused, taking in her voice. It was rather different actually, the way she said his first and family name. With _Kanda_, she always said it rather casually since she had been addressing him by that ever since he met her. But with _Yuu_, it suddenly felt like they were going on to a new stage, a new phase of the sort, of their life _together_. It was slightly frightening to think about, since they had been together for only what, a week or more? Yet he couldn't deny he sort of liked it. Sort of. Well, _she_ definitely didn't maul his first name.

"Che," Kanda released his hold on her finally, scoffing. "It sounds a lot more annoying when the usagi says it,"

Reiichi scowled, deciding to never call him by his first name ever again, not if she wanted to go through another repeat of a tongue tied experience for some stupid reason. "If you're done comparing," she frowned, trying to cover up her blush, "Let's go get what we came here for,"

* * *

Kanda couldn't fucking believe it, but Reiichi had been right all along.

No one actually recognised him.

Reiichi had pulled him along the rows and rows of booths selling various things, mostly fan art. He didn't really recognise much of the characters in those pictures, but it seemed like Reiichi did, for she would stop at a certain booth, linger her eyes on certain pieces, then smile slightly like she was living in her own world—to this he honestly could not understand—then turn and continue browsing other booths. She didn't stop to buy anything, thought it seemed like she wanted to at times, like there was this poster of _Dante_—yes he remembered the stupid name because of the stupid poet—short white hair, almost in the same clothing as his Wrath shoot, and smirking deadly with a gun.

Yeah _whatever_. He was definitely better looking in all accounts.

Reiichi had paused, glanced at him for one moment and there was this tiny smirk she had on her lips—he wasn't lying, seriously—and then she sauntered off to another table. He sort of hated how she was insistent on being "in character" or whatever the hell it meant, because suddenly _she_ was acting a little like what _he_ would, and that was a bit unnerving.

Anyway, back to the main point. No one recognised him.

It had to be some bogus hex conspiracy or something. Honestly, he still fucking looked like _Kanda Yuu_, except for the choice of clothes—he would never be caught dead wearing this goddamn uniform—but when he trailed after Reiichi, no one came to grope him or shriek in excitement or whatever the hell you name it. The whisperings that naturally buzzed when he was walking around was also slightly different.

"Hey, look at that Alto," one girl in a maid costumes giggled, whispering not so secretly to a girl beside her. "He's pretty hot, isn't he?"

"He's one hell of a cosplayer," someone else muttered, boy or girl, he didn't know, didn't care, but whoever it was was dressed a medieval dress of sorts. Freak. "His wig looks real, doesn't it?" he or she nudged the person beside who also stopped to stare.

"Actually, _he_ looks real," the other murmured back, eyes trailing up and down his body. "We've got to find him at the cosplayer's area later,"

Huh. Of course he was real. He was _Kanda Yuu_, dammit.

"Hey dude, that Sheryl—"

This caught his attention when he recognised Reiichi's character name and he turned to glare at whoever it was who spoke. It seemed like the guy who was speaking didn't notice him, for he turned to his friend and continued his sentence. "—look at her legs! Man, I wished she wore that Sagittarius 9 PM costume,"

The other asshole nodded in agreement, and whistled in appreciation as Reiichi bent forward to look at something at the booth she was at, oblivious to the other two staring perversely as her shorts rode up a little, revealing even more of her milky smooth thighs. "I wonder what size she is. You think she's as big as Sheryl?"

"Like I said, Sagittarius costume,"

Kanda didn't get what the fuck a Sagittarius costume was, but he sure as _hell_ didn't like the way they were talking about her. He sent them both one of his most chilling glares that could have frozen hell over, and he watched with satisfaction the moment both of them met his eyes and gulped rather audibly even if they were a few feet away, hastily shuffling away.

Losers.

"Alto!"

Who the fuck was Aldro?

"Alto! Ugh, Kan—" Reiichi grinded her teeth, annoyed that Kanda just wouldn't respond to his character's name. She shut her eyes exasperatedly."Yuu!"

Kanda whipped around almost immediately, facing her. "What?"

She stalked over, face slightly red and huffing. "Will you at least try to remember that you're _Alto_ today?" she groaned.

"Tch. Whatever," he snorted. "Are you done? I want to get the hell out of this freak zone,"

"Kanda," she said quietly, making sure no one heard his name. "You are currently dressed as one of us 'freaks'," she rolled her eyes, tugging him by the tie to make him move along. "Anyway I found the booth with Lavi's present. It's up ahead,"

"Che,"

But he relented and followed her towards a booth whose table was overcrowded with figurines. Some of the figurines were rather explicit, in suggestive positions and such. Well, they obviously weren't in realistic body proportions, he snorted. He would know, duh. The owner of the booth was a seemingly overweight man with small eyes and spectacles, and he was scrolling his mouse, face planted into a laptop. He didn't really like the look of the man, then again, he didn't like anyone else, so he stood next to Reiichi as she approached the owner.

"Hey, I contacted you online for the figurine?" Reiichi asked, and the man took his face out of his laptop and blinked at her.

"Sheryl Nome," he murmured more to himself, pushing up his glasses. "I was expecting you,"

She contacted some dodgy stranger online? What the hell? Kanda was about to bombard her with questions but the owner had dug out from underneath the table and placed a box on his booth table. "Never even opened once, in tip top pristine condition that I assure you," the guy was saying. "Ordered one year ago. Just as I told you online,"

Reiichi picked up the box, eyeing the figurine that was inside. He peered, curious about what was so great about this figurine. It was just a girl with the most ridiculous hair he had ever seen—whose hair was that long? Not his. Whose hair was of that colour? Teal? What the fuck? Red headphones on the head, eyes that were too large in proportion, wearing another what seemed like a uniform ensemble. It was all black save for the edges and tie that was also in teal. The skirt was way too short for anyone to wear. On the figurine's left arm, there was a number of 01.

Huh. Why the hell would Lavi even want this?

But apparently he did, since Reiichi nodded satisfactorily and pulled out a few notes from her pocket and handed it over. The owner's glasses gleamed, counting the money quickly.

Kanda stared disbelievingly. "You carried 20 000 yen in cash? Are you crazy?" then the more important part of it dawned upon him. "Wait, that _thing_ costs 20 000 yen?" he demanded incredulously.

"It's actually 17 000 yen," the man corrected him, setting the money down on the table after counting. "And I'm charging her the exact price that I got it for,"

"17 000 yen?" Kanda repeated disbelievingly. He was rich and that kind of money wouldn't have made a difference to his bank account, but hey, he knew what he could get with 17 000 yen, and that thing was definitely not worth that kind of money. "What's so great about that stupid figurine?"

The man looked highly offended. "It's Volks' 1/6 scale Hatsune Miku Encore version," he rattled on even if Kanda didn't know what the hell he was talking about. "It's a _super_ limited edition figurine, made to order, even. I got this a year ago, but due to personal reasons, I have to let this baby go. Such a shame,"

"Such a fucking waste of money," Kanda commented.

Reiichi shook her head and slapped him lightly on the shoulder, giving him a look. "We're getting this for a friend, so he doesn't exactly appreciate its value," she explained to the owner who still looked disgruntled as he took out a plastic bag to place the figurine in.

"Before you go," he handed the plastic bag over. "Could I have a picture with you?" he ignored the fast rising dark aura of Kanda. "I'm really a big fan of Sheryl Nome, you see—"

Kanda wasn't about to stand around and do nothing. He grabbed the bag out of the other's hands, scowling. "No, she won't," he answered for her, grabbing her wrist. "Let's go," he turned around without a second glance and stalked off, dragging Reiichi behind him.

"I'm sorry!" Reiichi smiled apologetically at the owner as she felt herself being dragged away, nearly tripping when Kanda increased his pace.

"Why the hell did you even apologise to him?" he growled once she was walking beside him in pace.

"It's normal to want to take pictures with a character that you like," she sighed. "It's part of cosplay,"

* * *

They went back to the carpark, keeping Lavi's present in the boot. Kanda had thought his job was done—they had gone to get the usagi's present, but Reiichi wasn't on the same wave length as him. When he made to unlock his car, she stopped him, tugging him towards the lifts again.

"I thought we're going back now!" he demanded, refusing to move.

"But I want to see the cosplay area," she said, willing him to step away from his car.

"No," he refused.

"People don't come to a cosplay convention and not see the cosplays," she insisted.

"Woman," he growled. "There's no point in seeing freaks parading around in freaky ass weird clothing. You can see that on your stupid laptop. We're going back,"

"Kanda," she scowled impatiently. "We're going. I don't care if you don't want to," she glared. "Not after what you did to me that day,"

He raised an eyebrow coolly. "What did I do?"

"You…you..." Reiichi couldn't believe it. She flushed, very tempted to strangle him. "You…"

"I…?" Kanda merely looked back at her, smirking.

"You…" she cursed, not knowing what she was supposed to say or to describe what he had done to her without embarrassing herself.

He snorted triumphantly. "I didn't promise you anything," he concluded. "So I say we're going back,"

Reiichi frowned, not liking how he was twisting everything to his advantage. She was _Sheryl Nome_ now, wasn't she? Sheryl Nome would have made sure things went her way. Before he moved towards his car, she stepped closer to him, placing her hands on his waist, ignoring the thrill of her heart that immediately started to course. She felt him stiffen in surprise beneath her touch, and she bravely kept a cool face as she gazed right into his eyes.

Slowly, she trailed her hands around to his back, gently brushing against that area of his spine which he had told her she shouldn't touch in case of, _ahem_, happenings. Kanda tried to keep it cool, but he was still rather shocked that _Reiichi_ was doing this to him. Her fingers felt particularly good on his back—gently caressing, teasing his sensitive skin beneath the slightly rough cotton of his shirt. Shit, he was starting to eye her neck that gleamed in the most enticing manner, but he willed himself not to react until she touched that particular place that totally _broke_ his self control.

It was almost like magic, because Kanda just stood there stone still until the moment she touched a particular spot, he leaned down immediately fully intending to take her, but she yanked his tie and started to pull him away at that moment, causing him to tumble forward and walk involuntarily.

"Fuck," he cursed, growling with humiliation at how he had been so easily tricked. "Why the hell did you do that?" he demanded.

"Hmm?" she glanced at him nonchalantly. "What did I do?"

"You…you…" he almost spluttered, scowling deeply when he realised she was doing the exact same thing he had. "Damn you,"

Reiichi smirked slightly, snorting as she led him back into the godforsaken building.

Kanda hated _Sheryl Nome_. He really did.

* * *

The cosplayer's area Kanda would say, was a massive freak gathering that was organized by freaks and for freaks. He nearly cursed quite violently when some _mecha_ brushed past him. How the hell did that huge thing get in the building in the first place? Reiichi on the other hand, was quite excited about it, whipping out her phone to capture it on camera.

"That's got to be really expensive," she marvelled at the huge thing—that he now noticed was made of cardboard—as it ambled slowly through the tons of cosplayers hanging around.

"Alto-kun!" some girl placed her hand on his arm when he walked past and he nearly shrugged it off in repulsion. "Can I have a picture?

"No," he immediately declined, snorting and turning away.

"Then why are you in cosplay?" the girl frowned, offended.

He totally meant to ignore her and walk on, but Reiichi glanced over.

"Alto," Reiichi smiled at him though she was giving him a warning look. "Just one picture, okay?"

"No," he glared back. His fucking _job_ consisted him of being in front of the camera all day. You would think he'd like to choose for once whether he wanted to be taken a stupid picture of.

Reiichi relented at his scowling face. "Sorry about that," she waved the other girl off who grumbled and walked unhappily away.

"Kanda," she explained softly to him once she was out of earshot. "If you don't agree to let them take your photo, you're going to stand out more,"

"I didn't ask for this," he retorted.

"I'm sorry," she sounded genuinely apologetic and she squeezed his arm lightly. "Just for a short while, okay? I promise I won't stay too long,"

"Che," he snorted, shutting his eyes. Honestly he couldn't say no, because that would just to be an outright asshole to her. "A short while," he finally agreed.

"Thank you," she smiled in that way that always gave him this flutter in his chest. Not. He was not becoming cheesy, ugh.

They walked around for a bit more—there were tons of photographers and cosplayers, and Reiichi recognised a few of them. A lot of them were dressed in the different characters of _vocaloid_—_Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin, Kagamine Len, Kamui Gakupo, Shion Kaito, Megurine Luka_—all in different outfits of their different music videos. The usual mainstream animes were pretty popular as well, such as _Katekyo Hitman Reborn_, _Bleach_, and of course, the overwhelmingly hype of _Naruto_.

And then there were others like _Suzumiya_ Haruhi and _Lucky_ Star—she nearly died laughing at the bewildered expression on Kanda's face when he saw this particular group dancing to the _Hare Hare Yukai _and _Caramelldansen_, or how he cringed at the pinkness of the Love Me jumpsuit of _Skip_ _Beat_.

She did notice how he sometimes growled when she started taking photos of some of them, like _Date_ _Masamune_ of _Sengoku_ _Basara_. She thought it was rather amazing how the cosplayer had managed to stay balanced with those six words of the character, but Kanda was muttering about how unrealistic it was to handle six swords.

It was inescapable that they would be pulled into taking photos, and Kanda didn't have a choice when Reiichi nodded. Luckily she didn't really ask him to do anything, but she sometimes she would link her arms a little with him, smile, and once the photographers went away, she would immediately let go with a not so well hidden blush and smile at him to walk onward. It was rather odd that he was allowing her to do whatever she wanted today, but it felt strangely good to see her carefree with just them alone, like they were on some kind of _date_.

"Izaya…" she murmured, eyes lighting up when she spotted some weirdo who looked rather anorexic in a black fur coat smirking creepily with a switchblade.

Well, it would have been a date if Reiichi would stop looking at all the cosplayers. What's so great about this pale dude who probably did drugs with too much eyeliner? He definitely didn't get it at all.

"Alto-kun! Sheryl-san!" some young girl's voice called, and Reiichi looked up from her phone to look around.

A rather short girl with a green wig and yellow uniform waved enthusiastically when their eyes met, trying to weave through the mass of people to get to them.

"Ranka?" Reiichi muttered more to herself.

"Who the hell is Ranka?" Kanda frowned, not liking how the other girl called them so causally.

"She's the other girl Alto was apparently 'two timing', like you said," she explained before the girl was in ear shot.

"Alto-kun!" Ranka beamed, patting her green wig and making sure wayward strands went back to place in her bid to rush over. Reiichi totally did not miss the appreciative sparkle in the young girl's eyes as she excitedly stared at Kanda. "You really really _really_ look like Alto-kun!" she clasped her hands, almost squealing with joy.

Kanda on the other hand, was feeling rather pissed that he had been _insulted_ that he looked like the weak girly boy in the anime.

"And Sheryl-san!" the girl turned to her, grinning. "This is great! I haven't seen anyone else in Macross Frontier cosplay!" she beamed. "Do you guys want to collaborate a little?"

Reiichi glanced at Kanda who tried to pretend that he wasn't part of the conversation. "Um…" she looked uneasily at the girl. "Sorry, we're not going to stay very long,"

"Just a few pictures!" Ranka pleaded. "Come on, we've got tons of photographers waiting around already!"

True enough; a few photographers were not so discreetly standing around them fiddling with their cameras waiting around for them.

Truth is, Reiichi didn't really mind, but she knew Kanda would absolutely hate it. "Sorry," she repeated, smiling slightly at Kanda who only huffed in impatience. Translation: Can we go now?

"Just one then?" The other girl continued to press. "Just one pose, and you guys can go. Please?"

"If she says we don't want to, it means that we fucking _don't_ want to," Kanda snapped, annoyed.

Ranka flinched at little in surprise, staring at him.

Reiichi winced at his tone. "Ka—Alto!" she sent him a look, in which he snorted at.

"Che,"

"Sheryl-san, can I speak to you for a bit?" Ranka smiled sweetly at her, slightly intimidated by Kanda. She pulled Reiichi a distance away from Kanda who looked boredly at the ceiling, wishing to get the hell out of here. "Ne, Sheryl-san," she started once Kanda was out of earshot. "Is that your boyfriend?"

"Huh?" Reiichi blinked. "Er no, he's not," she immediately denied by reflex, but a second later she realised no one here actually recognised them.

"No?" Ranka looked surprised, and then started to grin. "You think you can introduce me? He's kind of scary but he's mega hot," she sneaked at look back at Kanda. "What's his real name? Or can I have his number?"

Reiichi frowned, not liking how Kanda always attracted girls even with his bad attitude. "I can't," she answered eventually. It was true, because she just _couldn't_. She liked Kanda. She just couldn't.

"Hmm? The Ranka looked disappointed for a moment. "Why not?"

Reiichi pressed her lips together. It's because they _were_ together, it's just that saying it out loud was just kind of…

_Baby doushitai? Soujuu—_

Ranka gave her an unimpressed look when she didn't answer. "You're Sheryl Nome, aren't you?" she questioned, crossing her arms.

_Handoru gyutto nigitte mou standby—_

_Want my heart and want my love_

"I won't lose in singing, or in love," the other girl smirked a little, challenging her with a stare.

_No, mou_

_Swing—shite kiss!_

_Kiss!_

_Kiss!_

Reiichi looked at her, stunned for a moment, because those lines were exactly what Ranka said in the anime. "What do you—"

"_Chuuto hanpa na style wa no…"_ The green haired girl mocked a microphone in her hand and started to sing along with the background music. "_Buttinjyatteru love nara for me…"_ she stepped back, twirling slightly while singing. "_Beautiful, excuse me, hoshitara…."_

"_La la la….possibilities…"_

Reiichi watched unmoving, slowly comprehending that this Ranka was intending to react the scene where Sheryl and Ranka subtly fought over Alto. The Ranka cosplayer seemed to egg her on, occasionally throwing her a look while singing to a crowd who had started to form around all three of them, thinking that it was a performance.

"_Point, I don't care,"_ the other was pointing towards Kanda now, who had no idea what was going on. "_Dollars how much fake…Point, futatsu ni hitotsu_," she smiled at him, and Reiichi really didn't like it at all. "_But ai nara shite…"_

"_What 'bout my star—" _ The cosplayer grinned, smirking at her slightly as she waved to the audience who had started to clap along, sauntering towards Kanda. "_What 'bout my star_—_ What 'bout my star_—_What 'bout my star_— "

"Sheryl, take your man back!" someone from the audience shouted, and Reiichi suddenly realised that the entire thing was being filmed by plenty of video cameras. Everyone's eyes were on hers, and she freaked out for a moment, knowing exactly what they wanted her to do, but singing? And Kanda… she looked over at him and he was scowling though looking rather confused, ready to walk off.

_What 'bout my star_—

"Sheryl! Sheryl! Sheryl! Sheryl!" the crowd started to chant upon seeing her hesitation, pressuring her.

_Let me know what you want, I would give you…_

_How fantastic to be with you, my love…_

Ranka lip synced the lyrics while she smiled innocently back at her, standing way too close to Kanda.

"_Let me know what you want, I would give you…"_ she couldn't believe it, but she was doing this. The crowd around them cheered enthusiastically as she stalked over towards Kanda, determination set in her mind. "_How fantastic to be with you, my love…"_

She stepped up to Kanda, blocking the Ranka cosplayer out of the way and steeled herself for the next few verses. "_Darlin' chikadzuite fujuu…"_ she reached out, grasping his chin and smirked, moving closer towards him.

There were catcalls, whistles, but Kanda didn't hear any of it because he was just too shocked, stunned, unable to believe that Reiichi, let me italicise that, _Reiichi_, was seducing him. He stared back into her unwavering eyes, lips parted slightly in surprise.

"_No you, no life, nantsutte mou zettai…" _That was not all. Reiichi slowly brushed her hand past his jaw and trailed it down suggestively down his shirt, pressing her body even closer to his. "_Need your heart and need your love…"_

"_Oh yes, sweet de kiss—" _Reiichi hooked her other hand behind his neck and pulled him down, pressing her lips to his.

It felt like time stopped, like her brain shut down the moment her lips met his, because she couldn't think of anything else but how good it felt, or how smooth his skin was feeling underneath her hand. When she pulled back softly, she couldn't hear anything but her own thunderous heartbeat that pumped loudly in her brain. She didn't know if the song was still playing or if the Ranka had continue to sing, but she didn't really care at this point. Kanda stared at her quietly.

Then a few seconds later it actually hit her on what she had done and her eyes widened in panic, jumping slightly backwards. The noise around her finally crashed on her ears—the screaming, hooting, cheering, clapping, whistles, cat calls—and then realization struck that _everyone_ had been watching, and were watching some more.

"I..I.." she stuttered, face going red, not knowing what to do.

Kanda grabbed her wrist and hurriedly dragged her in some direction, and she followed behind, mind blank. Kanda growled threateningly at various people who tried to block his way to ask for more photos, but his furious denials weren't really effective. Eventually after being followed and begged by some of them, he lost his patience.

"GET THE FUCKING HELL OUT OF THE WAY!" he snapped, intimidating the entire group and storming away with twice intensity of his death aura.

They walked fast—almost running—and soon Kanda was yanking his car door open and slammed the door, breathing rather heavily, cursing god knows what in annoyance. Reiichi just sat in the passenger seat biting her lip and covered her blushing face, unable to look at Kanda. "Shit, shit, shit," she was muttering to herself. "Shit, I can't believe I—_shit_,"

For a lack of a better term, she was _freaking out_.

She blamed it on the music. She blamed it on the Ranka cosplayer who had so obviously egged her on. She blamed the adrenaline. She blamed herself for so easily getting jealous about Kanda when she just _knew_ he liked her and not someone else. She blamed it on being Sheryl Nome.

_You are Sheryl Nome now, aren't you?_

But even if she was dressed as Sheryl Nome, she just _wasn't_ Sheryl Nome. She couldn't go through with how Sheryl would have teased Alto, she couldn't be just as confident and seduce Kanda the same way. She had kissed him in public bravely, but she couldn't stand there and pretend like it didn't affect her at all.

Oh shit, she kissed him in _public_.

"Are you quite done freaking out?" Kanda asked nonchalantly, leaning back in his seat.

She whipped to look at him indignantly, but she was still blushing rather badly. "I-I'm not freaking out!" she denied hotly, but her shaky voice was so obvious that she cringed.

"Liar," He smirked, rolling his eyes, and she reddened even further.

"Why are you so calm about this?" she demanded. "I…I…kissed you in _public_!" she groaned in mortification, cursing herself.

"Che, you did," he agreed, not helping her at all.

"Then...then…" she fumbled, "Then…"

"Then?"

Reiichi groaned, shutting her eyes exasperatedly. "Can we go home?" she asked finally.

"So now you want to go," he muttered, but he pulled on his seatbelt and revved the engine.

"Because I didn't think—"

"That you would _kiss_ me in _public_ and be such a hypocrite about it?" he drawled, tapping his steering wheel.

She hated how he was purposely digging her embarrassment hole bigger. "How am I being a hypocrite?"

"Didn't you touch me because you wanted to?" he raised en eyebrow. "So why are you acting all shy about it for?"

Because he could manipulate her heartbeat by just _existing_, but she didn't want to tell him that because she could see his ego inflating to new heights with the way he was permanently smirking at her. She stubbornly kept quiet, scowling when Kanda merely gave an amused snort and stepped on the accelerator.

* * *

"Kanda?" Reiichi stood awkwardly at the kitchen doorway, twisting her fingers.

Kanda turned to glance at her, not expecting her to appear, especially since once they had reached home, Reiichi had immediately closed herself into her room for the past few hours. He noted with satisfaction that she had taken off the wig and contacts and was now looking like she was supposed to—he himself had gladly stripped off the stupid uniform the moment he reached his room. Scrutinising how she was looking at everything but him, he deduced that she was still mulling over what she did at the convention.

He cocked an eyebrow at her whilst tying on his apron, cursing when the strings kept slipping—and eventually Reiichi stepped forwards to help him fix it on. "So, what did you want?" he asked as he felt the knot being tied at his back.

"I'm not really hungry so I think you can skip my portion for dinner," she replied, stepping back once she was done.

Kanda turned and frowned at her. "If you don't eat you're going to _disappear_," he retorted.

Reiichi scowled. "I'm not that skinny,"

"You are underweight, aren't you?" he stated bluntly.

"That's not the point," she sighed. "I'm just not hungry okay?"

"Why?" he demanded, curious when she blushed a little, turning her head away.

"I'm just not, okay?" Reiichi repeated, turning her body with every intention to leave.

Kanda snorted. Right, okay, if she wanted to be that way… He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the kitchen counter, planting both his hands beside her on the counter and trapping her against it. She nearly squeaked when he stepped closer, gazing intently at her. "Why are you not hungry?" he asked directly again, training a hard stare.

Reiichi cursed at how her heartbeat suddenly shot up rapidly in realising what kind of position he had trapped her in. He was so close she could feel his body heat and that wasn't really helping her much. She looked guilty at the floor, hoping that he would give up and go away, but of course, Kanda was too stubborn to do anything like that.

"Are you going to speak?" he drawled, a tint of amusement in his low voice. "Or do I have to do _something_?"

The idea of _something_ made her flush even more brilliantly, and she frantically tried to order her mind to answer his question. "Um, remember the time I…avoided you?" she began uncertainly.

"Tch," Kanda scowled. Of course he remembered. "What about it?"

"I also didn't really eat much then right?" she continued. "It's…something of the same reason,"

Kanda looked at her expectantly for her to go on, but she stopped. "Rei, that didn't tell me a damn thing," he scowled. "Speak,"

Reiichi groaned, grinding her molars. "It's embarrassing, okay?" she finally spat out, unable to look at him in the eye.

"Okay," he agreed. "So?"

She shut her eyes exasperatedly, cursing the fact that he had zero empathy to what she was feeling. Why was this so unfair? Why was she always so affected by every little thing that he did? If she thought confessing and getting together with him meant that she would stop being so jittery or nervous around him, she was dead wrong. Every moment with him became even more thrilling—perhaps it was because she allowed herself to like him as much as she could, perhaps it was because he was responding back in ways she never thought was possible. And because of that, she became even more sensitive to the things he did. Even if he had kissed her a few times, she still couldn't breathe when he just stood next to her.

Kanda tapped his fingers on the counter impatiently, scowling. "I'm giving you three seconds," he declared finally. "One," he watched as she snapped her head up to look at him, eyes slightly widened in panic.

"Two,"

Reiichi took a deep breath, hating how this was all his fault. Everything was his fault.

"Thre—"

"Because I like you!" she clenched her fists and forced herself to say it despite how hard she started to blush in right in front of him. Her chest suddenly felt too tight for her to breathe properly, and a slight wetness came to her eyes in frustration. "Whenever you're…_there_," she continued on despite her trembling voice. "I just…feel so nervous and I…" she trailed off, clearly unable to go on.

"Hmm…" Kanda suddenly leaned forwards, whispering darkly into her ear. "So it's because of _me_,"

"Kanda!" she shoved him by the chest, face even redder than before at his smirking face. "You jerk! I just...I just told you something so entirely _embarrassing_ and you still…you still…" she scowled as much as she could without succumbing to the urge to slap him in retaliation, deciding instead to kick him. "You insensitive prick!"

"Ow—fuck, woman!" Kanda winced, glaring at her but he didn't relinquish trapping her against the kitchen counter.

Reiichi groaned, wishing for someone to just _kill her now_.

Kanda only snorted, unimpressed. He leaned back a bit but didn't step away in case she decided to do something stupid like run away. "So what's the big deal today?" he asked then. "You've been eating fine with me for the past few days,"

"Because I kissed you in public!" she emphasised, horrified at how nonchalant he was about this.

"No one recognised us right?" Kanda rolled his eyes. He had an aversion to public displays of affection, and by right _he_ should be the one bitching about it, but no one had recognised them anyway. In any case, Reiichi was overreacting enough for the both of them.

"Kanda, you don't get it," she sighed exasperated, looking at him firmly though her cheeks were still pink. "_I_ kissed you," she stated, hoping that he'd get the main message. "For the first time," she added.

He did notice that. It was kind of unbelievable that she did, since he was always the one to initiate anything, but other than that anomaly, he didn't get the fuss. "So?

"So?" she repeated disbelievingly.

"You kissed me for the first time," he summarised for her flatly. "End of story. Why are you acting so weird about it?"

This time, Reiichi yanked the front of his apron roughly, patience snapping at how he just _didn't_ understand. "Kanda," she started off dangerously, fuming. "I did _not_ just spend two hours in my room freaking out about how I kissed you on impulse in front of so many people," she hissed, hands trembling from the exertion. "And I did _not_ just waste my time wondering if I had done something that you didn't like," she breathed deeply, eyes narrowing, "All because I bloody _like _you so much!" she glared, shoving him away and muttering heavily to herself, scowling deeply.

Kanda finally stepped back and released her, snorting. "Idiot," he rolled his eyes, bending down to the cupboard underneath the counter to take the pot and pans to start on cooking for dinner, ignoring her squawk of indignation. "You think too much," he looked at her, cutting off the retort that was on her tongue. "If you want to do what you want to do," he set the pot on the stove, turning the gas on, "Then do it. Don't be half assed about it, woman,"

"You mean you won't be angry if I did anything I wanted to?" she asked curiously.

"Have I ever been angry with you?" he countered back.

"Yes, actually," she retorted. "A few times," she thought back. "Like the time when—"

"Whatever," Kanda scoffed. "My point is, you are worrying about things that no one really gives a damn about,"

Reiichi sulked. "You are such a jerk, Kanda. I hate you," she muttered. "I hate you so much,"

"Didn't you just say, "_because I bloody like you"_?" he raised an eyebrow, smirking at how she flushed. "If you're done standing around," he pointed to the fridge, "Go get some carrots and beef,"

She huffed, but she went over to the machine anyway. "Not soba today?" she asked sarcastically, taking out the vegetables first, and then the meat from the freezer.

"You can at least drink soup right?" he stated factually, filling up the pot with water to boil. "Even if you're not hungry,"

Reiichi paused, standing still for a moment. Sometimes he could be quite the douchebag, but at other times, he really cared. Quietly she took the needed ingredients to him, placing them on the table and smiled slightly to herself. "Yeah, I can,"

"What's with that look?" he frowned at her, pulling out the chopping board and knife.

"Nothing," she smiled, gesturing for him to hand the knife over.

* * *

"Rei-chan~~" Lavi beamed, slamming the front door open the next morning. He spotted her lying lazily on the couch watching some kind of kid's anime, or more specifically, _Doremon_. "How was your first ever real date yesterday?" he gushed, hugging her happily from the back.

Reiichi froze in horror for a second because he wasn't supposed to know that they had gone out yesterday—and actually it didn't even cross her mind that it was sort of like a _date_—then she realised that Lavi was just teasing her as usual. "We didn't go on a date!" she denied, face flushing slightly.

"Did you guys hold hands?" her cousin grinned, rubbing his cheek with hers. "Did Yuu walk you to your room door and kissed you goodnight?"

"Lavi!" she pushed him off, scowling slightly but with pink cheeks. No, they hadn't even held hands yet and no, Kanda definitely did not _walk_ her to her room—that in itself was rather redundant considering they lived in rooms right next to each other—and no, he didn't kiss her goodnight in the mushy way, because all that was just contradictory to what Kanda would behave, but admittedly, it would be been rather nice if he did.

Then again, it probably wasn't going to happen.

Lavi jumped over the couch from the back and tackled her, hugging her as much as possible. "Rei-chan, I'm sure Yuu will make exceptions for you," he cooed gleefully. "So don't look so upset!"

"I'm not upset!" she pushed him away, trying to let herself breathe.

"Where's Yuu, by the way?" her cousin asked, looking around.

"In his room?" she shrugged, turning back to her show. "Or in the dojo. I'm not sure,"

"You don't know?" he asked incredulously, like she was supposed to know every single thing about Kanda. "Aren't you his—"

"I'm not his keeper," she replied easily.

Lavi pouted. "Anyway, have you progressed in our deal?" he prodded her by the foot as she kept her attention on screen.

"Actually I have," she answered without lifting her eyes away from the screen.

Lavi paused, surprised. "Which one?"

She nearly said both, but then she realised that admitting to the second one would totally blow her lie that she said was busy at home yesterday. "The first one,"

"YOU DID?" he nearly screamed in excitement. "What did Yuu say? What did Yuu say?" he bounced merrily, shaking her by the shoulders. "I can't believe that you actually did it!"

"What, you thought I wouldn't go through with it?"

"Yes," he admitted much to her indignation, but then he was beaming too much after that. "So, what did he say?"

Reiichi rolled his eyes and said plainly. "He just said it is more annoying when you say it,"

"WHAT!" Lavi cried, standing up in disbelief. "WHAT?" he echoed, a pout starting to form on his lips as he flopped unhappily back on the couch. "That's it?" he demanded seriously.

"That's it," she nodded nonchalantly, eyes back to the television.

"I'm going to talk with Yuu," Lavi murmured, frowning as he got up again and sauntered towards the direction of the model's room.

Reiichi pretended to ignore him until he disappeared in the corridor, and then sighed with relief when he was out of sight. "I'm never saying his first name ever again," she muttered to herself.

* * *

"YUU-CHAN!"

Some idiot thought it was perfectly normal to be screaming his first name in the morning, and Kanda got annoyed with that. He stopped in his kata, irritated that his concentration had broke and stalked over to the dojo entrance, hand grasping his _shinai _in preparation.

"YUU~~~~~ OH YUUUU~~ ARE YOU IN HE—" Lavi was cut short when he saw a wooden sword pointed dangerously right at his neck with a scowling kendo boy glaring at him the moment he opened the sliding door of the dojo.

"Shut the fucking hell up," Kanda glared, now pressing the sword against his jugular. "And get out. I'm not done yet,"

"Eh..." Lavi chuckled nervously, remembering the last time he was chased with the wooden sword. You would think that a wooden sword couldn't really do much, but believe him when he said he _bled_ that day. "Just a question, Yuu, and you can do your kendo thing,"

Kanda snorted. "What?"

"Could you put the sword down first?" Lavi smiled innocently, pushing the blade away gingerly with one finger.

"Che," the Japanese relented, lowering the dangerous weapon.

Kanda knew he probably should never listen to anything that Lavi said, and he immediately regretted the moment he faltered and relaxed his grip for his friend grinned and lunged at him deviously, swiping his sword away and tackling him to the floor. Caught unawares, he cursed loudly, trying to grapple with Lavi when he felt himself being pushed back down on the floor, and then a heavy weight sat on him as Lavi straddled his stomach, knees pressing on both his hands.

"USAGI GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" he roared, trying to shove the other off but unfortunately, he was in a rather disadvantaged position.

"Nuh uh, Yuu," Lavi teased, purposely pressing more weight on him as Kanda cursed him to the pits of hell. "I just want to make sure you answer me properly," he grinned, lowering his voice. "How did you feel when Rei-chan called you by your first name?"

Kanda froze, hands stilling in their movements. "How do you know about that?" he demanded suspiciously.

"Because I asked her to," his stupid friend rolled his eyes, keeping the smirk in place. "So, did your heart pound faster when she said it?" he watched interestingly as Kanda tried to look furious at him but basically failed as the model averted his eyes, clearly uncomfortable. "Didn't it sound nice coming from her mouth?" Lavi continued, grinning.

"Shut up," Kanda hissed, squirming to try to get himself out of Lavi's grip.

"Did you imagine a new stage of life with her because she can't call you Kanda anymore if _she_ becomes a Kanda too?" Lavi pressed on, gleefully loving the way the model furiously denied it like he was guilty. "Yuu~" he sang. "If you want her to call your by your first name you've got to—"

"Lavi, will you just shut up?" Kanda snapped finally, and Lavi paused at the mention of his actual name. "Get off me," he ordered. "I mean it,"

Lavi hastily did as he was told, afraid that he had pushed his friend too far. "Er Yuu, I was just teasing, you know?"

Kanda ambled over to his forgotten wooden sword and picked it up, eyes glinting dangerously. "Three second head start," he fingered the blade, glaring at Lavi. "One,"

"Come on, Yuu! That wasn't fair!" Lavi shouted at him. "I thought you were genuinely upset because you seriously considered marrying Rei-chan!"

"Two," the death glare got darker, and the redhead started to whine.

"If you liked her saying your first name then you should be thanking me!"

"One," Kanda growled ominously.

Lavi thought it was best to start running.

* * *

"Owowowowowow—OWW!"

"Lavi, stop moving," Reiichi sighed, trying to keep him still as she rubbed the bruise on his head.

"But it hurts—ow!" he whined, clutching her hand to still her movement. "It really hurts," he sobbed, pouting at Kanda who sat across him nonchalantly.

"You probably deserved it," she huffed, smacking his hand away to attack the bruise.

"I just wanted to find out if Yuu—" he felt Kanda glaring hard at him, daring him to continue. He scowled.

"Find out if…?" Reiichi asked, continuing her circular rubbing on the swelling.

"Nevermind," Lavi muttered, kicking Kanda under the table in retaliation.

Kanda didn't even react, that stupid ass.

Lavi huffed. Pulling the bag that he had brought along on the table closer to him, he took out his camera, ignoring his best friend. "By the way, I wanted to show you this," he pressed some buttons on the camera, lifting it up to her face when he reached a correct photo.

Reiichi stopped, eyes widening in surprise. "Cloud," she murmured, taking the camera off his hands. In the picture, there was Cloud cosplayer that was of a pretty high standard—she hadn't seen anyone who looked so alike before. "Where did you take this?"

Lavi smirked at how Kanda not so subtly growled in irritation. "At the cosplay convention yesterday," he answered. "This guy was the best one I saw so far,"

Reiichi and Kanda froze simultaneously.

"You…you were there?" Reiichi asked carefully.

"Yeah, I was. You know I wouldn't have missed it for the world," Lavi shrugged, looking at her curiously. "Why?"

"Oh, I just thought you had work to do," she answered as nonchalantly as possible, hoping that the panic in her voice did not give her away.

"That was in the morning. I went to the convention in the afternoon," her cousin explained, taking back the camera. "It's too bad that you wanted to spend alone time with your boyfriend—"

Reiichi scowled. "I told you I was doing drafts for—"

"Hmm yeah," he shrugged, totally not believing her. "Doing your drafts in a romantic restaurant during your first date,"

"We didn't—"

"Anyway," her cousin totally ignored her, flicking through the photos that he took. "There were lots of cute girls!" he beamed, pausing at one of them "You should've seen this Ayanami Rei cosplay!" he showed her a fair girl with light blue hair and red eyes in a plugsuit, eyes the most melancholic ever.

"That girl is really pretty," she commented, surprised that she didn't see that cosplayer yesterday.

"Oh! Look at this!" Lavi excitedly pressed the next button till he found a video. "Yuu, look at this!"

"I don't care about your weird hobbies," Kanda snorted, turning back to his newspaper.

"No, really, you've got to see this one," Lavi set his camera in the middle of the table, and Reiichi shuffled nearer, curious as her cousin pressed the play button.

_Let me know what you want, I would give you…_

_How fantastic to be with you, my love…_

Reiichi froze in horror, heart thumping ridiculously fast in panic when she recognised herself and Kanda in the video. To make matters worse, she was watching herself put moves on Kanda. Her eyes met Kanda's equally shocked ones, and both of them didn't dare to say anything.

"This Alto and Sheryl pair were really good! Of course, the Ranka was adorable, but AruSheri is my OTP," Lavi gushed as the video played, squealing when the entire thing ended with her kissing Kanda. "It's so cute!" he beamed, turning to look at her. "Can you believe it?"

"Y-yeah," she agreed, hoping to god that she was not blushing like some idiot at the moment.

"The Alto seemed a little stiff though," Lavi carried on, seemingly oblivious to how the other two occupants had a lack of words to say. "Ne, why don't you two try this out?"

"NO!" both of them shouted simultaneously, wincing at how they had denied it too unnaturally.

"Shame," Lavi muttered, browsing through the rest of his pictures. "Would've been cute,"

"I-I'm going to get a drink," Reiichi announced hurriedly. "You guys want anything?"

"Coke please," Lavi quipped.

"Water?" she looked over at Kanda who shrugged, and she more or less escaped from Lavi's presence.

Lavi leaned forwards and set his camera on the table once Reiichi was out of earshot. "Yuu, why don't you try cosplay?" he asked the other, folding his arms. "I'm pretty sure Rei-chan would glomp you if you cosplayed Cloud or something," he waggled his eyebrows.

"No fucking way," Kanda retorted. "I don't need to dress as some freak. It's so damn stupid,"

"It's not stupid!" Lavi denied, pouting.

"You sound like you actually believe yourself," the model snorted. "Over my dead body, usagi,"

"Are you sure?" Lavi smirked, lowering his voice suddenly. "Are you sure, Alto hime-sama?"

* * *

**Owari.**

34 pages okay. I think my concentration broke while typing in between the parts LOL. Forgive some inconsistencies that I have no idea how to fix. Eh, Kanda's arm is still supposed to be in a cast by the way. Just take it as him being stubborn and not wearing the sling.

Because Alto is so damn _cute_, I can cry.

Big _big_ apologies to any of you who aren't in the Macross Frontier fandom. I didn't really explain much about the anime and I gave some spoilers too :/

From Wiki:

_Macross Frontier_ is the story of a human space colony fleet trying to find a habitable planet near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The story focuses on three young adults (Sheryl Nome—a famed pop singer, Saotome Alto—a private military pilot, and Ranka Lee—a rising pop singer) and the events that occur around them as the fleet faces a crisis of alien origin.

It's awesome because it's something like a musical with all the songs especially written for this anime. :D That's one of my favourite parts about it. My other favourite part is that Alto REALLY LOOKS LIKE Kanda. The hair says it all. He was the reason why I even watched the movie and the series in the first place lol.

The song that the Ranka cosplayer and Reiichi sang was _What 'bout my star?_ And they were reenacting the scene where Sheryl and Ranka were both singing that song to a bewildered Alto, which was incredibly cute. If you youtube the song I believe you can watch that scene. :D

About the first name thing:

Originally it started off as a little _omake_, but I decided to integrate it in here in the end. In canon, Kanda seems to have an aversion to his first name, but actually Lavi calls him that all the time and Kanda only shouted at Lavi for that twice. And well, since Alma is alive in my story, Kanda wouldn't really have a reason to hate his first name. It's just that not many people feel uncomfortable with using his first name since it has a sense of _closeness—_I believe most people are too intimidated by Kanda to even attempt to call him that, with the exception of Lavi of course. I also believe that at one point Reiichi will use his first name, perhaps in occasionally in private, only that it's far too early to do so now.

Don't you find it weird that everyone knows who _Kanda_ is but when I say _Yuu_, no one gets my reference. D: I love Kanda's first name. It's so awesome.

I have maybe 2 more scenes I want to write before the whole thing ends. But I'm heading for Vietnam tomorrow and I'll be busy with university applications the next few weeks (I swear writing a personal statement is one of the banes of my existence, not to mention interviews and shizz D:) so the next update might be in a long while. Maybe. Till next time~


	35. Chapter 33

**-Imitation Black-**

**

* * *

**

They rarely ever went on dates. In fact, the number of times in which they went out alone together could be counted on one hand. There was the time that they went to get Lavi's present, or the other time Lavi forced them to go to the amusement park together, or rarely, they'd drive around for a bit when Kanda decided to. And so it wasn't that surprising that about a month after they were officially together, Reiichi had never once held his hand.

It wasn't like she expected Kanda to be romantic or whatever—she knew the person whom she had fallen for well enough. Sometimes he _could_ be in his own way, like doing things she knew he never bothered with other people, like waiting for her, or the way he kissed her slowly when he was in the mood. But sometimes she wondered if they were really doing this dating thing _right_—after all, she hadn't actually dated anyone else seriously before, and Kanda, well, perhaps his definition of dating was different from normal people. The things Lavi kept insisting to her were mainly things she saw in movies, read in books, sometimes witnessed with other couples—like how the male would always put his hand around his girl's waist as they walked step in step—basically public display of affections she knew Kanda hated.

But it still didn't stop her from wishing Kanda to do that, even if it was entirely out of character from someone like him. She was a relatively private person and didn't really like such things in public either, but sometimes when they were alone in the house together just spending time, she just wished that he could do something like that.

Not that it was happening.

"Yuu~" Lavi whined, trying to hug the model who was failing to get away. "I missed your left arm so much~!"

"Usagi stop fucking trying to hug my goddamn arm!" Kanda shouted, extremely annoyed.

"But I haven't seen it for a month!" his friend protested, hugging the said limb with much vigour. "And look! You've got a tan line there, it's so cute!"

Kanda scowled, snatching his arm that had his cast fully removed (finally), and tried to punch Lavi for laughing at him. "It'll go away soon, so shut up!"

"Ne, Rei-chan!" Lavi grinned, dodging the punches and addressing the girl who seemed to be ignoring both of them. "Are you going to hang Lena-chan's infamous words of his cast on the wall? Because I couldn't have phrased it better myself!"

It was quite an awkward affair in the doctor's room when Kanda took his cast off, because Lavi had purposely brought a camera along and took a picture of evidence of it before either of them could stop him, and the doctor had merely stared at the few words in the upmost uncomfortable silence that Reiichi tried not to feel happy upon seeing those words again, and Kanda tried not to commit seppuku in his humiliation.

Reiichi instantly blushed, trying to ignore her stupid cousin. "Lavi, go away," she sulked.

"Meh," her cousin snorted at the lack of reaction, then turned to the Japanese and beamed. "It's okay though, because Yuu can say it to you every day~" he sang, laughing hard when Kanda increased his efforts to kill him with a flushed face. "If I know what _lurveeeeee_ is~ It's because of Yuuuuu~~~!"

"Fuck, usagi," Kanda tried to strangle the other to make him shut up. "Will you get the fuck out of my house?" he demanded.

"Why?" Lavi grinned teasingly. "You want more couple time with Rei-chan?"

Kanda instantly denied it. "NO! I—"

"You can hug her or hold her or kiss her or whatever you want in front of me, you know?" Lavi snorted, jumping over the couch despite the many times Kanda had yelled at him for that and landing beside Reiichi who inched further away from him, determined to shut her ears from the conversation whilst keeping rapt attention on the television screen. "You're not _shy_ about this, are you?" he raised an eyebrow, suddenly becoming serious.

"I'm not fucking _shy_—" Kanda growled, glaring at him as he _walked_ over, not jumped, to the other side of the couch to block Lavi's view.

"Uh huh," Lavi nodded patronizingly, pulling Kanda down to flop beside him and talking as though Reiichi wasn't trying to burn in embarrassment beside him. "Then why haven't you done anything of those things?"

"Because," Kanda started out harshly, then faltered when he couldn't answer it. "Just shut the fuck up,"

"See?" Lavi grinned triumphantly. "It's not that hard, is it, Yuu? I mean you love Rei-chan from the deepest part of your admittedly black heart—" he continued on despite the frustrated snort that Kanda let out in being unable to deny that yes, he did like Reiichi, though not in the same kind of phrasing as he said it, "and you've kissed her a few times in private, haven't you?" the red head huffed, feeling annoyed that the only times he ever saw Kanda kiss his cousin was because they thought he wasn't around.

"What we do has absolutely nothing to do with you!" Kanda grounded out, irritated.

"Sounds like a weak excuse," Lavi raised an eyebrow. "And actually, it has absolutely everything to do with me, because I'm going to be related to you!" he brightened up suddenly. "Oh my god! I just realized this—"

"I'm not fucking shy," Kanda repeated once more, scowling deeply and choosing to ignore the second part of what Lavi was saying even if he was starting to blush heavily but he looked angry enough to cover that up.

Lavi sniffed at how Kanda didn't want to talk about how they'd actually be _brothers_. So epic. "Prove me wrong then," he declared, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow in challenge. "Kiss her now, right in front of me,"

It was then Reiichi was unable to pretend that she hadn't heard a single thing they were talking about since she was sitting right next to them. She shoved Lavi off the couch, frowning as he fell to the ground rather painfully.

"Oww—" he whined, pulling himself back on the sofa even as Kanda snickered openly. "Shut up, Yuu shy ol' boy!"

"I'm not—"

"Shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy shy—" Lavi repeated it like a broken recorder much to the model's aggravation.

"Lavi, shut up!" Reiichi rubbed her temples, wondering why her cousin was so hell bent on teasing them today. Or every day, actually. "Just leave Kanda alone, okay?" she sighed, and then nearly face palmed when she realized her comment in defending Kanda just dug a deeper hole for herself.

"But Rei-chan!" he turned to her and she groaned. "You'd like that, don't you?" he pouted innocently. "I know _you_ are shy and all," he grinned at how she couldn't deny that, "but it's just _me_, not the public. Yuu can whisper sweet nothings into your ear twenty four seven, or he can hold you and never let you go~" he sang, watching how hard she started to blush and furiously refused to look at Kanda.

Damn her cousin for reading her stupid mind, even if his ideas were so much more farfetched than hers. "Lavi," she cut him off in mid song that he nearly started to sing, "_We_," for the first time she was actually saying something flat out that Kanda and her were _something_, "Are fine! Stop trying to butt in!" she shouted in frustration. "Just, leave us alone!"

Lavi stopped in shock, shutting up immediately. He saw how her eyes darted around insecurely, biting her bottom lip, and then she stood up and walked towards her room, door closing with a silent click. In one whole minute Lavi sat there feeling incredibly guilty, speechless for the first time in his life. It wasn't like he intended to irritate her so much, but he just thought it was rather cute at how both of the people he loved most in the world acted around each other. And well, he knew Kanda needed pushing if he was _ever_ going to do anything romantic—which he knew his cousin wanted. She was a girl.

"If she starts to avoid me again," Kanda suddenly spoke up, voice deathly dangerous, "I will fucking murder your fucking ass," he glared, angry. He got up from the couch, padding towards the corridor that Reiichi disappeared to.

Lavi sat still feeling numb, but he knew he had to apologize or else he'd be the one being ignored for the next entire month or something. Slowly he went to over towards her room, stopping at the entrance of the corridor when he spotted Kanda leaning against the wall next to her room.

"Rei…open up," Kanda was saying, arms crossed and a scowl on his face, but his tone was much softer than his usual speech.

"I can't," Reiichi said softly across the door, and her voice sounded a little cracked like she was going to cry. "I'm sorry, I can't face you now,"

Lavi certainly felt like he committed murder or something at the moment. "Rei-chan…" he walked forwards, and Kanda snapped up his face to glare at him.

"Lavi, fuck you," Kanda hissed bluntly, fists clenching in fury. "Do you have any goddamn idea how fucking difficult it is to be where we are now? Of course, you don't, you fucking asshole," he snorted patronizingly. "Can't shut up for a moment, can you?"

Lavi looked at his feet guiltily. True enough, he hadn't really understood what really happened between them both when they started to develop their relationship, just that he knew that their feelings had changed. Moreover they kept doing things in private—could you blame him for not knowing?

"I'm sorry," he murmured finally.

"That doesn't mean shit to me," Kanda spat and Lavi could see how _furious_ his friend was at him, especially with the way his eyes burned with resentment. "If she doesn't talk to me tomorrow," he pulled on Lavi's collar harshly, gripping it so tight that Lavi could've choked. "You are so fucking dead," Kanda released him roughly, storming towards his own room and slamming the door shut.

The echo burned painfully in Lavi's chest. In a normal circumstance he would've been delighted to know how much his cousin meant to his best friend, but there were more important things to take care of. He knocked on Reiichi's door softly. "…Rei-chan?"

There was no answer.

"Rei-chan…" he stood outside her door like an idiot. "I'm really sorry," he pleaded. "I'm really really _really_ sorry," he continued, heart breaking at how this was all his stupid fault. "Please open the door…"

Not that he didn't expect it, but Lavi felt even worse when there was again, no answer. "Rei-chan, I love you," he leaned his forehead against her door, wishing that she was at least listening to him. "I love you so much," he whispered, "That's why I worry, Rei-chan. I worry about you more than anyone else. I worry if Yuu is treating you right even if he's my best friend. I worry if you will be happy with him all the time," he sighed, closing his eyes. "You don't talk to me about Yuu at all…" he continued. "And Yuu doesn't talk to me about you either… I love you both so much, but neither of you will tell me anything, I just want to know—"

Silence.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured finally. "I'm sorry,"

The quietness that rang in his ears was more painful than anything else he had experienced. He stood outside the door for the next thirty minutes, alone and in the dark, wallowing in misery and occasionally cursing himself or knocking on her door uselessly. "Rei-chan, _please_," he whispered, voice raw with guilt and hurt. "Please open the door. I swear I'll never see you again if you don't want me to—"

The door swung open suddenly, and Reiichi launched herself at him, arms around his neck and pressing her face into his shoulder. He staggered back in surprise, then immediately wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, with no intention of ever letting go.

"I'm sorry," he repeated as he buried his face into her hair, squeezing her tightly. A choked sob only escaped from her lips and he realized she was crying, trying to hug him tighter. "I love you so much, Rei-chan," he whispered into her ear, rubbing her back gently.

"I didn't mean to shout at you," she mumbled into his shirt eventually, sniffing. "Don't leave me,"

"I won't," he held her fiercely. "I swear, I won't ever leave you," he patted her back, hoping that she'd stop tearing. Lavi cupped her face and wiped the remaining tears that leaked. "I'm so sorry," he pressed his forehead against hers.

She nodded quietly.

"Rei-chan…" he looked at her seriously. "I just want to know if things are fine between you and Yuu," he explained. "I never meant to anger you or anything. I just," he sighed with frustration. "I just don't understand," he admitted. "I don't understand why you can't talk to me about him," he continued on when he saw that she looked hesitant in answering. "But I trust you, Rei-chan. You don't have to tell me,"

"I…" Reiichi looked away for a moment, and then leaned her head on his shoulder as he cradled her. "I like Kanda, Lavi," she said it so softly that Lavi had to strain his ears to hear. "I like him so much," she squeezed her eyes shut, hugging him by the neck tighter. Lavi kept quiet as she talked, stroking her hair. "I can't talk to you about him because you know him so well," she continued. "He listens to you more than anyone else," she said, and Lavi was very tempted to correct that Kanda listened to _her_ more than him nowadays, but he didn't. "But I want us to develop our relationship by ourselves. That's why I said you can't help me with this,"

"Rei-chan, it was never my intention to…" he trailed off and started again. "I was never my intention to build the relationship for you guys," he kissed her cheek lightly. "You know that Yuu loves you, Rei-chan. He really does,"

"I know…" Reiichi turned slightly pink. "But sometimes you keep saying things that I..." she swallowed. "…_want_ Kanda to do…" she pressed her face into the crook of his neck. "And I keep hoping that he does when I know he won't," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry," Lavi hugged her tighter. "I didn't mean…" he sighed. "I just thought Yuu would get the hint,"

"That what I meant, Lavi," she said. "I don't want you to ask Kanda to do something that he doesn't want to. It doesn't mean anything if he does it on your egging,"

"…I understand," he whispered. "But Rei-chan," he brushed her cheek gently. "I just want you to know that Yuu doesn't do anything that he himself doesn't want," he said firmly. "Ever. He kisses you because he wants to," he continued. "And sometimes, I think you should do things that you want too,"

Reiichi nodded slightly, closing her eyes as she listened to her cousin's steady heart beat. "I'm just afraid..." she said, "that Kanda won't like it,"

Lavi hummed softly. "You have to remember…" he answered eventually."…that Yuu is afraid too,"

* * *

Kanda was waiting right outside her door the first thing the next morning. He was afraid, he would admit this, that things would start to revert back to the way it was before they got together—the avoiding, the awkwardness, the pretending he didn't exist—and he didn't want to let her even attempt to avoid him at all. Unfortunately he didn't know that Lavi had stayed the night, and cursed when the person who opened the door was him and not the one he was waiting for.

"Mornin' Yuu," Lavi patted his shoulder, humming to himself happily.

Kanda eyed him suspiciously. If Lavi had stayed in her room, that meant that they made up or something. He nodded in acknowledgement reluctantly, but he still glared at the other. He spotted Reiichi a step behind Lavi, and she met his eyes for a moment before looking away. Kanda set his lips in a displeased frown.

"I'm hungry~" Lavi whined, walking nonchalantly away from them both, heading to the kitchen, not before giving Reiichi a look and smiling at Kanda.

Both of them watched as Lavi, for the first time ever, left to give them personal space. After no red hair popped back in sight, they were left standing alone in the corridor. Kanda turned to Reiichi, gazing at her directly. Reiichi fidgeted slightly, but she eventually looked back at him quietly, smiling softly. "Good morning,"

Kanda gave a gruff nod in response. "Made up with the usagi?"

"Yeah," she responded. "I'm sorry about yesterday," she stepped closer to him and touched his arm lightly. "I heard you talking to Lavi outside my door. I'm sorry about that," she looked at him meaningfully. "I promise I won't ignore you,"

Kanda looked away slightly uncomfortable, knowing that he had ranted on without much thought when he was angry. "Che," he snorted, but he couldn't deny he felt rather relieved. "Just don't do that again,"

She nodded slightly. "And Kanda?"

He only looked back questioningly, and was surprised when she rested her hands on his shoulders and leaned up to kiss him on the lips, softly, unsurely, but she got bolder when he started to respond back, hand trailing underneath her jaw to pull her closer, and with the cast newly off his left arm, he could play with the side of her shirt. She felt him slip his tongue into her mouth to deepen the kiss, and she let him take control eventually. After a while he pulled back, breathing lightly through parted lips and stared at her. "What's with you today?" he asked, voice slightly deeper than normal.

"Nothing," she blushed slightly, "Just felt like it,"

He raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Slowly he released her and froze when he spotted Lavi leaning at the doorway of the corridor, smirking. He expected the usual train of teasing to occurred, but Lavi merely snorted in amusement and turned away, disappearing back into the kitchen. He felt Reiichi stiffen slightly in shock as well, but she relaxed when her cousin went off his merry way.

"Strange," he muttered, but he was extremely glad he wasn't going to hear the usual whiny voice of his friend. "Did you say something to him?" he questioned suspiciously.

"Yeah, I did," she nodded. "I told him to lay off the teasing,"

"Good," he shrugged, turning away to walk to the kitchen for breakfast, since they were back to normal, and then paused suddenly. "I'm still not going to kiss you in front of him,"

Reiichi blushed, huffing a little. "That wasn't my point!"

Kanda merely cocked an eyebrow at her, smirking slightly before he continued down the corridor. Reiichi shoved him from the back.

* * *

Maybe Reiichi had told Lavi to lay off the teasing, but apparently that only applied when Reiichi was around, unfortunately. Lavi still did crack his usual Kanchi jokes on when they were going to get married and all that, but he stopped with suggesting what he felt Kanda should do and stuff, which did tone down the amount of teasing they usually endured every day. But as mentioned, it was only when Reiichi was around. It was sad for Kanda, because he was stuck in the basement with the annoying redhead while Reiichi was up in the offices.

"Yuu, you've got to bring her out this weekend!" Lavi insisted as he opened his tenth can of coke—he was seriously addicted to caffeine—while Kanda tried to ignore him and try not to fail. "You've got to bring her on a date every once in a while! It's called _dating_, see?"

"Shut the hell up," he retorted, nearly throwing his own cup of water at the other, except he wanted to drink it. "I do bring her out," he defended, then wondered why the hell he even bothered.

"You bring her out to your living room," Lavi snorted unimpressed. "Come on, you guys need to do some serious couple things," he pressed on. "Like, have you even walked in the park with her?"

"The moment I step into the park—" Kanda started off bluntly.

"—you get raped," Lavi finished, watching Kanda roll his eyes but nod in agreement. "So? Just disguise yourself or something! Like," he snickered. "Alto-hime,"

"Shut it," Kanda hissed dangerously.

"Fine, hime-sama," Lavi dodged the cup at went flying into his face. "Okay, something simple then. Have you hugged her?"

"What?"

"H-u-g," Lavi repeated. "Hug. You know, the thing I do to her every day. And to you, almost every day,"

"I know what it is, you retard," Kanda glared.

Lavi shrugged. "So? Have you?"

"What has that got to do with anything?" the model asked incredulously.

"It's one of the most basic things to do with the one you love!" the photographer replied back, just as incredulous that Kanda even asked a question like that.

"But I don't—"

"Love her?" Lavi asked flatly, daring him to deny.

Kanda growled, standing up with every intention to storm away.

"Yuu, sit," the redhead frowned, pointing at the chair the other had just gotten up from, and Kanda did so with much reluctance. "I want to talk to you," he said seriously.

"As if you weren't talking to me for the past goddamn hour," Kanda muttered, sulking. "Will you shut up if I talk to you?"

"I guess," Lavi sipped his can of coke casually, but his tone of voice wasn't in the annoying range now. "I had a talk with Rei-chan yesterday," he began.

"How long did you stand outside her door for?" Kanda sneered.

"Just half an hour, you ass," Lavi huffed. "Anyway, she talked to me about you for the first time,"

At that, Kanda stilled, not knowing if that was a good or bad thing. "So?" he growled impatiently when Lavi just paused there.

"She said she likes you," the redhead watched with some amusement at how his friend looked away with a slight pink tint upon the direct words.

"I know that already," Kanda grounded out eventually.

"Mmm hmmm," Lavi agreed. "And do you?"

The Japanese kept his mouth firmly shut. Honestly what was the point of asking him this now? Wasn't he dating Reiichi for like, a month already? And hadn't Lavi seen them together when he spied on them? And Lavi knew he didn't just commit to one person for fun. "What the fuck are you getting at?"

"Yuu," Lavi sighed, almost whining. "Why can't you just say yes? Would you kill you, honestly?"

Honestly? No. But figuratively? Yes.

"Shut up," Kanda scowled. "Are we done talking?"

"No, we're not," the redhead pouted. "Rei-chan told me that she wants you to do something lovely dovey with her,"

"Liar," Kanda immediately retorted.

"Fine, maybe she didn't say that," Lavi conceded. "But surely you noticed how I've stopped saying some stuff around her, haven't you?" he continued when Kanda didn't say anything. "You know why? It's because Rei-chan starts to want to do you that sort of stuff with her," he cut off Kanda before the other could retort. "I'm being perfectly serious,"

"…she didn't tell me this," Kanda muttered eventually after a while of silent staring. Then he frowned at Lavi. "Isn't it your fault that you keep saying such stupid stuff in the first place?"

"That's because you don't even think of such things that are not stupid!" Lavi sniffed. "Have you even thought of holding her hand when you guys walk side by side, huh? I bet you haven't!"

"Why the fuck would I need to do that?" the model demanded, feeling insulted.

"My point exactly!" Lavi pointed at him, scowling. "She's a _girl_, Yuu. She likes this kind of stuff!"

"If she fucking likes it, she would've done it!"

"That's what I said!" Lavi huffed. "But she's scared _you_ won't like it so she doesn't do it!"

"I've never said I didn't—" Kanda stopped abruptly in his sentence when he realized he was going to say something that he knew Lavi would lord over him for the rest of his life. "Tch," he ran a hand through his hair in annoyance.

"So, first step," Lavi smirked triumphantly. "Hug her tonight!"

"No,"

"Why not?" the redhead demanded. "Your cast is off, you have no excuse not to!"

Kanda growled. "I don't have to answer you,"

"Come on," Lavi insisted. "You can watch the stars with her tonight," he went on excited with his new idea. "And then, you yawn, stretching your arms and lay one over her shoulder, and pull her closer to hug her!" he beamed. "It'll be so romantic! I'll even record it on tape for you, so that you can watch the moment,"

Kanda snorted, standing up from the table when he concluded that their talk was long over. "Go jump off a fucking cliff," he stalked out of the kitchen, Lavi following him at his heels immediately.

"Where are you going?" the other asked, noting that usually Kanda waited for Reiichi to come down at this time.

"Away from you,"

Lavi pouted. "Hey," then he stopped when the elevator opened as if on cue. "Rei-chan!"

Kanda stepped into the lift as Reiichi held the door open for them both, and let go of the button when Lavi launched towards her for a hug. "I missed you~" he cooed, rubbing his cheek affectionately against hers, giving Kanda an eye signal discreetly to do the same thing. Kanda tried not to cringe and pretended he didn't see anything.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Rei-chan," Lavi said as he held open the passenger seat for his cousin once they reach the black convertible.

"You're not coming?" she asked curiously, since Lavi had been staying over rather frequently over the past month.

"I've got panda business to take care of," he smiled, then leaned forwards and whispered in her ear. "He's all yours tonight,"

Reiichi flushed, glaring at him slightly and shutting the door herself.

"Remember what I said, Yuu-chan!" Lavi called, chuckling a little at how Kanda flipped him the finger, scowling. "Wear a condom!"

Even if Kanda stepped on the pedal at his words, he still did not miss the furious blush that erupted on his cousin's face. He waved cheerfully as their car disappeared into the high way.

"Oh god," Reiichi wanted to smack her head painfully against the dashboard, willing herself to stop blushing like a virgin girl, except for the fact that she was. "I am going to skewer him tomorrow," she muttered to herself.

Kanda's smirk didn't help her any.

* * *

Perhaps it was just his own imagination, but Kanda started to notice what Lavi was blabbering about at work. It was the way Reiichi sometimes played with her fingers, like she wanted to touch him but decided against it, or the way she looked at him sometimes when she thought he wasn't watching her. Then he started to wonder if maybe he really should be taking Lavi's advice. It wasn't that he hated doing that kind of things—okay, he lied, he did hate it. He hated how it made him felt especially, or the sort of things he would start to think because it was plain mushy and disgusting and just… not him.

Contrary to what Lavi probably thought, he had done it before, with Lulubell. But to be clear, he never started any of those moments, but just let it happened because she wanted to. He didn't understand why girls always felt the need to cuddle—even with girls he had bedded, they always liked to do that.

And now, Reiichi.

They were sitting on the couch next to each other, close but not touching, and Kanda suddenly noticed the tenseness between his skin and hers. He didn't even know what the hell they were watching—and vaguely he wondered if they really should do something else instead of sitting in the living room—and it didn't seem like Reiichi was paying attention to the television either. Actually, she kept twitching her fingers and that kept distracting him.

It was a dilemma. To hold, or not to hold? It was ridiculous. They had been dating for a _month_. Lavi had once told her that the amount of time a couple was considered dating and the amount of time they actually spent together was a different thing, and it was true. And so to make matters more pathetic, they had spent every single day together. She had gotten more comfortable around him, but suddenly the idea of doing this couple _thing_ was such an agony to mull over.

She tapped her fingers that lay a centimeter apart from his own, debating whether it'd be a good idea to touch his hand. Lavi had told her she should just do the things she wanted with Kanda, and if Kanda really didn't like it, they could talk it over. It would be trial and error, and from there they could understand each other better. She understood that—it was perfectly logical—but somehow it just wasn't as easy as to _just do it_.

She was too busy thinking over such a trivial matter that her finger accidentally brushed against his, and she jolted, feeling a shock of electricity from just touching him. She snatched her hand back hurriedly, trying to pretend that she didn't just do something stupid.

"Are you going to take it?"

"W-what?" Reiichi jumped, turning to look at him in surprise.

Kanda looked at his hand and flexed it and she blushed, cursing herself for assuming he wouldn't notice her actions, except for the fact that he did all the time. Her heart started to race uncontrollably, and she suddenly felt tongue tied.

A minute of silence passed and Kanda sighed irritably, reaching over and taking her hand in his nonchalantly, but he couldn't stop how his heart suddenly started to beat faster with one simple action. Her hand was naturally smaller than his, and it wasn't exactly smooth like most of the girls he had met. She had done housework before—probably from her orphanage, and sometimes at home too—and was felt by the slightly rough skin of her palms. He didn't really mind it though, because it felt entirely too good to have her hand wrapped in his, slightly trembling as though she was scared to let go. He watched as her face turned red, but she was unable to stop the shy smile that kept tugging on her lips. It had been a month yet she was still acting like this. It was unbelievable, but he couldn't deny it was more fun this way.

Reiichi sat there for a while reveling in the warmth of his hand, fingers gripping his hand tightly, trying to cool her rapid breathing and pounding of heart. He brushed a thumb over the top of her hand and she blushed even deeper, not daring to believe that _Kanda_ was doing this to her. Then she saw the smirk on his face and she scowled slightly, looking away. "…Jerk," she muttered.

Kanda snorted. "So are you happy now?" he cocked his head at their clasped hands.

Reiichi thought for a moment. "I guess?"

"What do you mean, you guess?" he frowned. He just did something he would've normally killed himself over, all for what?

Reiichi didn't answer, but instead shifted her hand slightly, slowly entwining her fingers with his so that they were holding hands the correct way. Kanda stiffened when he felt the joint in between her fingers touching his, causing a thrill to course through his veins. He never thought a stupid thing like hand holding would ever have such a sensation. Apparently Reiichi didn't expect it either, because he felt her clench her hand in shock, not letting go, and she was starting to smile in the way that showed she was incredibly happy.

"Why do you like this kind of stuff?" he leaned his head back on the couch, eyes averted to the ceiling to try and act nonchalant.

"I don't know," she answered honestly, leaning a little on his shoulder, content to feel his hand. "I know you don't though," she smiled to herself. "Thank you, Kanda,"

A warm feeling started to spread in his chest and he just wondered if he should do stuff like this more often, then he quickly killed that thought. "Che," he snorted. "But never in front of the usagi,"

"Or in public," she agreed, to which he growled in affirmation.

While Kanda looked at the ceiling, she stared at their hands, savoring how it felt so _right_. She squeezed his hand slightly, and he retaliated by squeezing back slightly harder, and it became a small childish war of hand grappling, till Reiichi started to chuckle and Kanda tried not to die in how mushy he was becoming, eyes trained hard to the blank space of white while listening to her laughter.

She paused suddenly.

"Kanda, this ring…" she tapped on the metal band that was on his left hand's forth finger, the position where one would normally wear a wedding ring on. She had felt the cool metal while they were playing. "I've noticed you're always wearing this, but you switch your other rings…I can see it?"

Kanda shrugged, and she released their clasped hands slowly, tugging the ring off and turning it in her hand. It was a pretty simple metal band, with only curl on top that looked like teardrop. In fact, it looked rather familiar to her... "Did you buy this?"

"No, the usagi gave it to me,"

At this, Reiichi paused. "You wear a ring that Lavi gave you on your wedding ring finger?" she asked incredulously, because well, that thought sounded really, uh, _gay_.

"It's the only finger that fits," he scowled. "Not whatever you're thinking,"

"Then why do you wear it all the time?" she asked curiously.

Saying that Lavi had gotten it with the money from the photo that made him famous and he wore it out of memory's sake was quite embarrassing to say. "So girls don't bother me when they see it,"

"Okay," she blinked. But then, didn't everyone know that Kanda Yuu wasn't married?

"Well, Lavi gave me a ring too…" she stopped suddenly, realizing why his ring looked so familiar. She placed his ring into his hand, hurriedly trying to undo the choker she always wore. Quickly she slipped out the ring Lavi had given her many years ago out of the necklace, holding it up to inspect it. Likewise, there was a curl in the shape of a teardrop. "He didn't…" she muttered, hands trembling slightly. She put her ring beside Kanda's ring in his hand, watching as the rings clicked together magnetically.

"Fuck," Kanda could only stare in—he didn't even know what he was supposed to feel actually—disbelief as he realized what exactly had happened. "Lavi," he could only mutter. "Fuck,"

Reiichi raised the now conjoined rings, staring at the pattern that formed when the two teardrops were placed side by side.

It was a heart.

"I can't believe I've been wearing a _couple ring_ all these years!" she flushed, unable to believe it. "And it was with…with _you_!"

"You tell me," Kanda muttered, "What the fuck,"

Reiichi dumbly took the rings apart, wearing back her own ring on her neck and slipping his ring back on—stopping suddenly when she realized he was wearing a _couple ring_ on his _wedding ring finger _and _she_ was putting it on for him—she flushed red, dropping his hand and averted her eyes, trying to clear her mind with her own imagination. It seemed like Kanda caught on to what she had realized, because he looked away uncomfortably.

"You think Lavi planned this?" she managed after a while, resisting the urge to dig a hole to kill herself.

Kanda scoffed. "You _know_ the idiot planned this,"

* * *

"Lavi! Why did you..you.." Reiichi nearly strangled him the next day, face flushed with indignation and disbelief and embarrassment.

"Why did I…?" he blinked back, confused as he fought with the hands that tried to go near his neck.

"Why did you give me a couple ring?" she demanded.

Lavi hugged her, not at all bothered at how she was glaring at him.

"Do you know much how trouble we could've gotten into if someone spotted me wearing a couple ring with _Kanda Yuu_?" Reiichi growled, unable to get why Lavi had even done something like that.

"But everyone knows your relationship with him!" he whined, tilting his head innocently. "Except the tabloids, but well, they're _tabloids_,"

"I meant even before I met Kanda!" she frowned. "If one of my mentally insane Kanda obsessed classmates had noticed something like that—"

She was overreacting. "Chill, no one ever notices that sort of thing!"

Except that yes, fans did, because she had heard lots of her classmates discussing such things before. "They do!"

"But they didn't," Lavi stated calmly, shrugging. "Anyway, it's no big deal. You could just say it's coincidence or something,"

"Not likely, seeing how I'm your _cousin_ and Kanda is your _best_ _friend_," she deadpanned, but at least she stopped trying to strangle him. "They still don't believe I've never met Kanda before I started on your project!"

"Who's they?"

"The press. Other people," she sighed, irritated. "And," she glared at him, "I found out that our rings were custom made, meaning, they're only one in the world. How do you explain that, Lavi?"

"How did you find out about that?" he blinked.

"I called _Cartier_," she crossed her arms. "What were you thinking?"

"Eh…" Lavi chuckled. "I was thinking about the future?"

She looked unimpressed. "You can do better than that,"

"Rei-chan," he relented finally, looking at her seriously. "I gave you that because you're half of me, and Yuu is the other. I can't live without either of you,"

She hugged him tightly for those words. "I know…but you should have told me," she murmured.

"I should have," he nodded, stroking her hair. "I'll show you one more thing then," he pulled back, releasing her. Raising his right hand he took off the ring that he wore on his second finger, and showed it to her. On the top it had two curls like two teardrops, instead of one like hers and Kanda.

"This is…" she trailed off when Lavi lifted up the ring she was wearing around her neck and placed his own ring next to it. A magnetic click sounded.

"What I gave you isn't exactly a couple ring with Yuu," he corrected, turning the conjoined rings in front of her. Now it was a heart with a teardrop next to it. "It's actually a triple ring," he tapped on the other side of his ring that had the single curl left. "Yuu's ring will go here,"

"Oh," she stared at the rings.

In a way, she did understand why Lavi had given them both such pieces of jewelry. She knew Kanda and she were the two most important people to him, and it showed from the fact that he chose to wear the middle ring—the one who brought them both together. It was rather perfect actually, to describe all three of their relationships together.

"But why did you have to give Kanda and I rings that fits only our wedding ring fingers?" she demanded, because it was entirely too suspicious that her ring too, only fit on her left hand's forth finger, and that was the reason why she wore it around her neck instead.

"Like I said," her cousin hummed. "I was thinking about the future,"

* * *

"Come on, Rei-chan~" Lavi whined. "Stop ignoring me~"

Reiichi threw a soapy sponge at him and he caught it easily, bending over to the side to rinse it in a bucket of water. He tossed it back when he was done, and she continued on with her task. Lavi pouted, tapping his foot on the floor in some unknown tune and hummed, not liking how he was bored to death watching her do work.

You see, Reiichi was washing his best friend's car—why, he had no idea, because the black Lambo looked shiny enough—and he was forbidden to do anything related to housework. To be honest, the last time he scratched Kanda's side view mirror while trying to help was a pure accident, but apparently neither of them believed him.

"I'm hungry~" he drawled annoyingly from his position on a chair beside the bucket of water for that was his current job.

"Go bother Kanda," Reiichi stated, rolling her eyes, wiping away the excess soap and water with the sponge.

"But he'll kick me out of the kitchen!" Lavi pouted. It was also unfair how he was never allowed in the kitchen when Kanda was cooking.

Reiichi shrugged, not really sympathizing with his status. It was her cousin's own fault to crash over their house today after work, and since she had decided to wash Kanda's car and Kanda was busy preparing dinner, they couldn't really entertain Lavi much.

"So, what did you guys do yesterday?" Lavi asked casually, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back.

"Other than finding out about the rings?" she answered back sarcastically.

"Sheesh," Lavi muttered, frowning at how she kept grumbling to him about that the entire day. "Yes, other than the rings,"

"Nothing much," she shrugged, but Lavi was sharp enough to spot the faint tint of pink on her cheeks.

"I'm sure it's _nothing_ if you're being extra happy," he grinned. "Did he hug you?"

"N-no!" she denied, stopping in her actions to glare at him.

"Huh. I thought he'd watch the stars with you or something,"

"Lavi…" she warned threateningly. "Did you say something unnecessary to Kanda?"

"It's not unnecessary, Rei-chan," he sighed. "I told you that Yuu doesn't do anything he doesn't want. It's just that he has no imagination, okay?"

"I'm so sure holding my hand needed imagination," she muttered, turning back to wipe off the last part of the car.

Lavi nearly toppled the bucket of water beside him as he fell off the chair he was lounging on. "YUU HELD YOUR HAND?" he nearly shrieked in excitement, his voice echoing throughout the garage. "OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!"

"LAVI!" she hissed loudly, face burning with mortification at his reaction. "WILL YOU KEEP IT DOWN?"

"But Yuu held your hand!" he beamed widely, bouncing over to hug her enthusiastically."That's _amazing_! Oh my god I need to tell Lena-chan about this—" he patted his pocket frantically to find his phone while Reiichi dropped the sponge on the floor and tried to make him stop.

"Lavi, don't!" she grappled with him for his phone, but Lavi was taller than her and he raised it out of her reach. "Lavi!"

Her cousin merely grinned at her and pressed the speed dial, but Reiichi jumped and swiped the phone, shutting it with a click. "Aw, come on, Rei-chan! Lena-chan would be ecstatic! It's not every day that Yuu does things like this!"

"No!" she insisted, face red.

"Huh," he frowned, and then brightened up. "Oh Yuuuuuu~!" he turned and ran back towards the house, laughing as Reiichi dashed after him with widened eyes and a scowl. "YUU! I HEARD SOMETHING FROM A LITTLE BIRDIE~!"

"LAVI! COME BACK HERE!"

* * *

"YUUUU~~~" Lavi stopped when he reached the kitchen, blinking at the lack of person he was trying to find.

"STOP RUN—" Reiichi nearly collided into him, but she stopped in time and also blinked at the empty kitchen.

"Where did Yuu go?" her cousin asked, walking in and glancing about. There was a pot on the stove which turned out to be soup, and there were cut vegetables and meat on the counter on a plate, but they hadn't been cooked yet. The rice cooker was left open, but there was nothing inside.

"Kanda?" she called, wandering out of the kitchen and knocking on his door but there was no response. She walked towards the dojo, the gym, and finally the pool, but there was no trace of him.

"Did you find him?" Lavi asked, stepping back in through the front door after he searched outside.

"I think he went out the house," she commented, looking at the bunch of keys that were missing on the table near the front door.

"What for?"

They went back to the kitchen and Reiichi closed the rice cooker, spotting the empty container on the counter that normally held rice. "To buy rice, I think,"

"Darn," he muttered, "Well, I'll just have to wait for him to come back,"

"No, you won't say a word to him when he comes back," she corrected.

"Why not?" Lavi whined. "Don't you want to see him being cute and flustered and blushing—"

Truth was, she did, but then she couldn't even look at Kanda when Lavi started to tease them both. "No I don't," she denied with a huff, heading back to the garage to clear the things they had left behind.

"Yes you do," Lavi grinned, following behind her. "Tell you what, I'll take a picture of him when he does that, and you can look at it every day!"

Reiichi almost took the bucket of dirty water and splashed it at him.

* * *

She was done washing his car, and now they were both sitting at the kitchen table waiting for the one who was cooking their dinner to come back. Kanda hadn't really been gone for very long, and she knew the nearest mini mart wasn't that far away—within walking distance—but she couldn't shake of this particular dreaded feeling that settled in her chest. She fidgeted in her seat, unable to keep still even as Lavi rambled on god knows what, but she wasn't listening.

"Rei-chan?" Lavi paused suddenly, touching her shoulder worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"I…" she murmured, frowning. "I feel off," she admitted. "I don't know,"

Lavi scrutinized her for a moment. "Are you falling sick? 'Cause the weather's been rather hot these days…"

"I don't think so," she answered, and suddenly it felt difficult to breathe. She bit her lip worriedly, flexing her hands impatiently. "Lavi, I think…" she choked slightly, looking out the window. "It's going to rain,"

"Rei-chan, relax," Lavi hugged her, and pulled her close. "Calm down,"

Then, as if on cue, the familiar sound of a crack of thunder jolted them both suddenly and the rain drops started to pelt. "Shit," Lavi cursed, squeezing her tighter when he felt her tremble in his arms, desperately trying to bury her face into his chest.

"The weather forecast didn't say anything about this," he muttered to himself, placing a hand on her head when lightning flashed this time, and Reiichi flinched. "Must be a flash storm,"

The entire house had suddenly darkened, and the small drizzle turned out a torrential downpour within seconds. Which much difficulty, he shuffled over to the window and closed it, heaving a sigh of relief when the sound of rain muted just a little. Then he flicked on the lights, lightening up the heavy atmosphere.

"It'll be over soon," he patted his cousin's back consolingly, and she nodded slightly, but she didn't let go of him.

Then she froze.

"K-kanda," she whispered. "Lavi, Kanda is outside," her eyes widened frantically, gripping the front of his shirt tighter. "Kanda is…Kanda is…"

"Breathe," Lavi rubbed her back in circles. "Calm down. Yuu will be fine," he assured her. "He'll take shelter,"

Logically, Reiichi knew that, but her phobia overrode her rational thought. If Kanda didn't come back, then… then… "But...K-kanda—" she started to sob slightly, deathly afraid of her own trail of thoughts.

"Shh…" Lavi whispered into her ear. "He's going to come back, okay? He's not going to leave you," he continued to murmur softly, even as she started to tremble rather violently.

"But w-what if…" she breathed deeply, hands wiping her face furiously as tears started to leak.

"He won't," Lavi told her firmly, digging into her pocket for his phone. "I'm going to call him, alright? Don't cry anymore, okay?" he held her tightly as he pressed the speed dial for Kanda, only that no one picked up after the seven try.

"L-lavi," she bit her lip, and he could see how scared she really was, and she flinched harder when another thunder cracked.

Lavi frowned grimly. "I can find him—"

"N-no!" she pulled him tight, voice shaky and cracked. "No…you can't go out there," she protested. "If K-kanda doesn't…" she choked. "Then you… I can't…" she sobbed softly, grasping his waist, unable to go on.

"He's going to come back," Lavi promised, cupping her face and wiping her tears away. "He's going to come back,"

* * *

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck.

_Fuck_.

After wasting so much goddamn time in the mini mart because the cashier girl had recognized who he was—_Kanda Yuu_—and basically made a huge commotion about it, seeing that she had screamed the moment she registered who he was and thereby alerting _everyone_ else in the mini mart. After half an hour of fans trying to touch him or get an autograph, the supervisor had apologized to him repeatedly for the incident, because the only reason why Kanda even went to this particular store was because the staff of the mart was specifically told not to react in the way the new cashier girl had.

All he wanted to buy was a packet of rice, was it really so hard?

He was never coming to this store ever again.

And because he had wasted more time than he predicted, a flash storm suddenly decided to occur just as he was stepping out of the store.

Fuck.

He didn't have an umbrella, and it seemed like an umbrella wouldn't even help, considering the heaviness of the rain that pelted down. He cursed again, standing behind the sliding glass doors to prevent getting wet. He didn't really like the rain much, because it brought more trouble than it was worth. But then, he didn't hate it as much as Reiichi did.

Reiichi.

Oh fuck.

He remembered very clearly that day when she was huddled in the corner of her room so unlike her usual herself _crying_. But then, Lavi was with her now, wasn't he? So she'd be alright.

After a few minutes of staring blankly into the rain, the sinking feeling in his gut kept getting stronger and he cursed, knowing the exact reason why. He was getting _worried_. Worried if she would start to breakdown again, worried if she started to become scared, worried if she started to cry. She was fucking _nineteen_, he knew that, but if he himself hated his own childhood that much, then she probably handled her own phobia worse.

He made to take out his phone from his pocket, then cursed again when he realized he had left it in his room when he changed earlier. So. What to do now? Normally he would wait the storm out even with his impatience, but something inside of him was egging him on to run back home. Shit. Why the hell did he care so much for her? She should be fine, especially since Lavi was there.

But still.

He gripped the plastic bag in his hands grimly, debating whether to step out in the rain.

Fuck this.

* * *

"He's going to come back," Lavi repeated it like mantra, hoping that Reiichi wouldn't start to panic as he stroked her back gently, the other hand shielding her eyes from the occasional lighting that streaked past.

It had been thirty minutes already, and no sign of his best friend. That either meant Kanda was hiding in some shelter to wait out the storm, or that he was also getting paranoid. "Shit, Yuu," he murmured to himself, hugging his cousin tighter.

Then suddenly, the front door slammed open loudly causing both of the relatives to jump in shock, in sync with the boom of thunder that sounded.

"Fuck this stupid goddamn rain!" the figure who entered cursed angrily, kicking off his wet shoes and throwing a plastic bag on the table. "I'm never going to—"

Kanda didn't get to finish that sentence, because he nearly doubled over when Reiichi crashed into him, arms wounding around his neck tightly. He was dripping wet—thoroughly drenched, actually—but she didn't care as she hugged him closer, a small sob starting to escape from her lips. Kanda squirmed a little, feeling slightly uncomfortable at how she was hugging him, and then looked away even more awkwardly when he realized Lavi was just watching them both blatantly. Lavi gave him a look to do _something_, and he glared back in retaliation.

"Kanda…it's really you, right?" Reiichi murmured, not willing to let go at all. "You came back,"

He snorted. "As if the stupid rain would do anything to me," but he placed a hesitant hand on her shoulder, gripping it.

He felt her sigh in relief, sniffing a little. "I was so afraid that—" she stopped, opting to pull him closer, ignoring the cold that seeped through her clothes. "I can't lose you, Kanda," she whispered, voice just as vulnerable as the last time he heard it, and it made his heart twinge. "I can't,"

Kanda kept quiet, allowing her to hold him as much as she wanted. He didn't really expect her to worry about _him_ actually—the last time, she had been crying over Lavi. He felt her stiffen when another crack of thunder clapped, but she didn't break down into tears again.

Lavi walked over, shutting the front door quietly and muting the sounds. He gave Kanda a look and clasped his shoulder once, turning away to walk into the kitchen. Once Lavi couldn't be seen, he finally relaxed. Lightning flashed again, and she squeezed him tightly, but this time, he cautiously wrapped his own arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

Reiichi didn't say anything, but merely sighed in contentment. Lavi was safe, Kanda was safe, that was all it mattered. Even if Kanda was cold and wet and her clothes were starting to get soaked as well, she didn't care. It felt strangely good to hold him—and for him to hold her—and she never wanted to let go. She breathed lightly, eyes closed as she felt his body heat slowly radiating, slowly assuring her that everything was alright.

Kanda still felt slightly awkward because he didn't really like hugging people—in fact, Reiichi was probably the first person he ever bothered to hug—but he figured if the heart racing thrill that pumped ever continuously in his heart was a consequence of it, he might consider doing it again.

Maybe, if Lavi would stop grinning at him creepily from the kitchen failing to stay out of sight.

* * *

**Owari.**

Point of chapter:

I had three things I wanted to write

1. The first time they held hands

2. Their couple ring

3. Another storm incident, but this time with Kanda

1) I'm not entirely sure if Kanda was in character _at all_ with the hand holding. I was thinking that he'd be a lot more lenient towards Reiichi especially in private. IDK. I wanted to write it because it was just fluff.

2) The couple ring is not a sudden idea that I just plucked in. If you noticed I did mention Reiichi's choker that she always wears a few times, and once in the orphanage chapter I did mention about Kanda's possible couple ring that he wore. Hee.

I know I did say I won't update for a while, but honestly I couldn't stop writing alsdmksdnmjf *frustrated groan*. This is how I procrastinate all my real life shit. D: D:

Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't reply to any of your reviews this time round D: I started on this chapter the moment I came back from Viet (which was a pretty cool trip I must add), and I figured it's a better present to post this instead. Hope the chapter wasn't too weird, though it feels a little to me.


	36. Chapter 34

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

"Zero-chan, tell us the truth," a voice chimed sweetly, but it held a certain deadly poison to it.

Reiichi backed away nervously, only that she was sitting on a chair and there wasn't much space to move any more backward, and moreover she was trapped with identical grinning Cheshire cat smiles both beside and in front of her. "Will you guys stop that?" she demanded, trying to pretend she wasn't intimidated with how her friends were cornering her.

"Not until you admit it," the one in front of her smirked, leaning even more forward.

"I have nothing to admit!" she denied, frustrated that none of them would believe her.

"You are so lying, girl," the one on her right smiled amusedly, leaning on her open palm.

"I'm not lying," Reiichi grounded out.

"Tell that to the blush on your face," the one on the left added, much to her annoyance.

"I'm not blushing!" she insisted, slapping a hand on the table exasperatedly. "Will you guys stop it already?"

Honestly when her group of friends decided to meet up to catch up—considering they hadn't done so in quite a while, she hadn't expected this. The one sitting across her, Tanaka Kaori, was a raven with an extremely short bop cut and defined features in addition to deep black eyes. The one on the right, looked more like doll with long curly salon brown hair and even lighter big brown eyes was Ayami Haruka. And lastly the one on the right had bleached her hair blonde in a crop cut was Sato Shizuka.

Kaori was an editor of a local newspaper, Haruka was a shop assistant to her mother's toy store, and Shizuka was a professional biker. All of them were so different, yet they still managed to stay friends. It was quite odd, actually. The three of them were her high school clique, and they had kept in contact all these years, occasionally meeting up to talk about ongoing real life drama each of them were going through.

Except the one question that was always asked was if she had a boyfriend. And sometimes, it was worse than Lavi, like now.

"If you don't want to answer then it clearly means you do have one," Kaori concluded with a logical flair, grinning.

"I don't!" Reiichi resisted the urge to slam her head on the table to knock herself unconscious.

Truth was, she _did_, only that no one was supposed to find out. Unfortunately, everyone in the office knew. She cursed the day that Kanda Yuu was such a hot topic for gossip.

"Hmm, really?" Haruka smiled innocently, yet the cute façade was most definitely seen through. She gave the other two knowing looks and gestured for Kaori to hand something over. The raven rummaged through her bag, taking out a stack of newspaper clipplings and pushed it to Reiichi.

"What's this then?" Shizuka smirked, tapping at a certain photograph on the paper.

_Breaking News: Top Model Kanda Yuu is attached?_

_Kanda Yuu, 20, arguably the hottest sensation in the fashion industry had been rumoured to be attached with Innocence designer Kuroshi Reiichi. The cries of anguished fans could be heard as more evidences added to the growing pile of pictures that have captured them together over the past few months. Some have even reported that Kuroshi Reiichi has been spotted leaving Kanda Yuu's house on a daily basis, leaving most to speculate that they are cohabiting with each other. _

The photograph was quite a blurry one and it seemed like the paparazzi was in a hurry to snap it, but still, she could recognize her own red hair and Kanda's ponytail and sunglasses in his unmistakable black sports car.

"This is breaking news?" Reiichi almost started to laugh, except she wasn't in the position to now. Honestly she was feeling quite freaked out that they had been photographed together without knowing, even if they thought they were being extra careful. But then again, she never read the entertainment news anymore, so she clearly had no idea what had been happening.

"It's breaking news for entertainment," Kaori sniffed. "You know that Kanda Yuu is about 70 percent worth of the entertainment news,"

"Don't digress, Zero-chan," Shizuka wagged a finger at her. "Going to deny it some more?"

"We're co-workers!" she flushed, hoping that they would drop the subject.

"Lame excuse," Haruka snorted. "We all know your project with your cousin is way over. There's no reason for you to mingle with Kanda Yuu anymore, is there?"

"Kanda is Lavi's best friend," she groaned. "There's no way I can't not _mingle_ with him,"

"Ooh, so it's _Kanda_, now," the other girl sang, grinning. "Not Kanda Yuu or Kanda-san, but _Kandaaaaa_?"

"Haru!" Reiichi scowled at how they were all making this harder for her. "I'm not dating him!"

"I never knew you'd hold hands with someone you didn't date," Kaori quipped, pulling out another page from beneath the stack of newspaper clips and placing it on top, causing her to freeze.

Although the photo was dark and clearly photographed by someone hiding behind some bushes, she knew exactly when it was taken, because it was the time she thought no one was watching as they walked home in the dead of the night after karaoke with Lavi and held his hand. Shit.

"Or kiss him," Shizuka added, starting to lay out the newspaper clipping on the café table, exposing each photograph of her and Kanda caught in the act doing something that clearly showed that weren't just friends or co-workers.

"How the hell did you guys get this?" Reiichi demanded, face red as she tried to ignore the pictures.

Kaori merely gave her a raised eyebrow. "Hey, I work for Nippon Daily for a reason, you know,"

"Excuse me, more tea?" a waitress stopped by and smiled at them all, cutting their conversation.

Reiichi froze, and then scrambled to collect the newspapers quickly, cramming them face down together in her hands. She was blushing so hard, hoping that the waitress did not just recognize her or Kanda in the pictures and nodded tersely, letting the waitress fill their cups while the rest of her friends openly laughed at her.

"Aww, Zero-chan, you should've seen the look on your face!" Shizuka smirked, taking one of the cookies on her plate to munch on happily.

"Yeah, you're always so calm and collected you know?" Haruka added, giggling. "It's the first time I've seen you like this!"

"Guys, shut up," she huffed, thrusting the newspaper clipping back to Kaori.

Kaori merely snickered and took the stack back calmly. "Going to admit it yet? That you're dating _Kanda Yuu_—"

"No!" she denied, but she knew she had lost this time round.

"I'm actually really surprised," Shizuka commented, totally ignoring Reiichi's denial. "You always complain about how _Kanda Yuu_ isn't that good looking when he _is_—"

"Well, I want him if you don't," Haruka sniffed.

"Every sane girl wants him," Kaori agreed. "That's why we all came to the consensus that Zero-chan was insane, didn't we?"

Reiichi grumbled. "I have no idea why any girl would want someone with his attitude,"

"Are you sure you should be saying this about your boyfriend?" Shizuka asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's not my—"

"Why wouldn't any girl want him?" Haruka demanded, cutting her off. "He's super good looking, and he's _rich_,"

"Rich," Kaori nodded.

"Money," Shizuka agreed.

"What more do you want?" Haruka concluded.

"I never knew all of you were so superficial," Reiichi huffed. "_I_ don't care if he's rich,"

"Because you love him for who he is?" Haruka shot her a cheesy grin.

"Stop being like Lavi," she scowled, but her cheeks were still stained pink.

"Nice idea!" Kaori snapped her fingers. "We should ask your cousin about this. He wouldn't lie, unlike Zero-chan," she grinned evilly. "Haru," she gestured to the other girl.

Before Reiichi even knew what was happening, she saw her own phone being passed over to Kaori right in front of her eyes and she patted her pocket, horrified to find that her friend had so easily stole it from her. She lunged forward, trying to take the phone back by Shizuka held her down with no mercy and that was where Reiichi knew she couldn't deny it any longer.

"Kao-chan!" she hissed furiously, trying to struggle with Shizuka only that the blonde was the strongest of them all. "Don't!"

Kaori paused, scrolling down her list of contacts and smirked at her. "Why should I?"

Reiichi bit her lip, still struggling. Because her cousin would gladly recount how Kanda and her got together plus more embarrassing moments of them together. "Just don't call Lavi!" she pleaded.

Kaori shrugged, not listening to her at all as she found the name she was looking for and showed it to Reiichi, taunting her. "It's this number right?"

"Okay!" Reiichi burst out finally, face burning with embarrassment. "Okay! I'll admit it! Just, don't call him!"

The other girl clicked the phone shut, leaning back into the seat triumphantly. Reiichi covered her face, groaning pitifully. "I hate you guys so much…"

Haruka and Shizuka merely snickered at her.

"So, get on with it," Haruka beamed excitedly.

Reiichi couldn't look at any of them in the eye as she started flush heavily. "...I'm dating Kanda," she mumbled reluctantly.

The other three high fived each other, much to her mortification. All of them started to grin creepily, which reminded her of her cousin and his dreadful teasing ways, and she started to wonder if she had done the right thing.

"For how long?" Kaori demanded, pulling her chair closer.

"About four months," Reiichi resigned herself in their interrogating session.

"Who confessed first?" Haruka was next, looking at her expectantly.

"…Me,"

"Wow, I didn't know you had it in you," her friend blinked, quite surprised. "I thought you would wait for him to do it first,"

"I didn't have a choice at that time," she replied, sighing.

"When did he first kiss you?" Shizuka asked.

Reiichi paused, blushing slightly. "The day after I confessed,"

The blonde whistled. "That's fast. So, is he a good kisser?"

"Shizuka!" she groaned. "Don't ask me that kind of questions!"

"Answer it Zero-chan," Kaori told her firmly.

The three of them stared at her until she gave in. "…Yeah," she mumbled, looking away to the floor.

"How did you even fall for him?" Kaori demanded. "You, my girl, are the last person in the world I thought would get it on with Kanda Yuu, and guess what, you _did_," she pressed. "Speak,"

"I…I just…" Reiichi mumbled with a little difficulty, "I just realized he means a lot to me,"

"Hmmmm…" All three of them started to smirk at that, and she scowled unhappily.

Haruka suddenly hugged her, pulling her close. "You're being really cute today!" the other girl beamed. "I can see it! You and Kanda Yuu—so adorable!"

"Haru!" she flushed.

"Oh my god!" Haru paused like she didn't even hear her. "Shizzy, Kao-chan," she addressed the other two seriously while still hugging her. "Zero-chan is attached to _Kanda Yuu_," she emphasized, smile getting wider by the second. "_Kanda Yuu_. Oh my god, _Kanda Yuu_!"

"Keep it down!" Reiichi hissed, afraid that the entire café would hear her squealing.

"But your boyfriend is _Kanda Yuu_!" the other laughed. "I can't believe it! I know your cousin is famous and all but _Kanda Yuu_!" she repeated a permanent smile on her face.

"Yeah, that is pretty amazing when you think of it," Kaori agreed. "_Kanda Yuu_," she echoed and Shizuka nodded in agreement.

"So, when can we meet him?" Haruka demanded.

"W-what?"

"When can we meet him?" the girl asked again, eyes glinting with determination.

"I don't think Kanda—"

"Zero-chan," Shizuka, tapped her fingers on the table slowly. "You couldn't even tell us, your_ best friends_, the truth that you're dating Kanda Yuu. I think you do owe us something,"

That made her feel slightly guilty. "But no one is supposed to know!" Reiichi sighed. "If I tell you and you tell the rest of our class, the entire world will know by the end of the day!"

"Oh come on, _Kanda Yuu_ should be man enough to admit his relationships," her friend snorted. "Anyway I would say the entire world already knows, judging from the number of photos they have taken,"

"But—"

"No buts," Kaori cut her off firmly. "I, too, am particularly interested in meeting your boyfriend,"

"That's only because he's _Kanda Yuu_," Reiichi mimicked them, rolling her eyes.

Neither of her three friends bothered to disagree.

"How much do you think his autograph would sell online?" Haruka asked shamelessly.

"I don't think Kanda Yuu would give you an autograph," Shizuka countered. "He's notorious for never signing one,"

"Hey, am I not his girlfriend's best pal?"

Reiichi shook her head. "Guys, honestly," she sighed. "I don't think Kanda would even agree to letting you guys in the house,"

There was a pause.

"What do you mean "in the house"?" Kaori asked curiously, looking at her suspiciously. "You sound like you're married to him or something, unless—"

"You're living with him?" Shizuka demanded, eyes widened in disbelief. "You really are?"

Reiichi wanted to kick herself for the slip up. She forgot that what she had read were all just rumours, and not actually truth that people already knew.

"Zero-chan," Haruka frowned at her, waiting impatiently for her to answer.

She sighed. "Yes, I am," she admitted. "It's not such a big deal—"

"OH MY GOD!" Haruka shrieked, catching the entire attention of the café.

"HARU!" Reiichi clamped a hand around the other girl's mouth before she screamed anymore. "Keep it down!" she hissed, and the other girl nodded slowly and she released her.

"But but but!" Haruka immediately started to babble. "You're staying with _Kanda Yuu_—Kao-chan, Shizzy, tell me I'm not dreaming," she started to wiggle her fingers excitedly. "I can't believe you've never told any of us this, Zero-chan! How could you?"

"Precisely, I _couldn't_," Reiichi rolled her eyes.

"Tsk, Zero-chan," Kaori pointed at her accusingly. "We should've found out about this from the start. No excuses there,"

Shizuka nodded, also frowning. "Yeah,"

"I couldn't, okay?" Reiichi bit her lip guilty. "And you guys would've came over unceremoniously and pissed Kanda off!"

"Well, since you didn't want to tell us sooner, we _are_ going to come over and piss your boyfriend off," Kaori declared with a huff. "Staying with _Kanda Yuu_," she muttered. "I can't believe it,"

"We're coming this Saturday," Haruka agreed for them all.

"What? No!" Reiichi protested. "Seriously, guys, Kanda won't agree,"

"Do we look like we care?" Shizuka blatantly gave her a look that said she did not care. At all. "Your boyfriend should listen to you sometimes, you know,"

"He does," she groaned. "But—"

"Zero-chan," Kaori sang, waving her phone in front of her face and out of reach. "What if we called your cousin to bring us over? Would that be better?"

"NO!" she cursed, scowling at how everyone loved to bully her so much. "Come on guys," she pleaded. "I'm serious about Kanda not agreeing to it,"

"So are we," Kaori hummed, now flicking through her phone.

"W-what are you doing?" Reiichi asked apprehensively when Kaori seemed not to be called her cousin but doing something else on her phone.

"Shizzy, hold her down," Haruka commanded, and Reiichi tried to get away from the blonde but failed. The other girl went closer to Kaori's side and peered at her phone.

"What are you looking for?" she asked the other girl.

"Kanda Yuu's number," Kaori frowned as she kept scrolling down. "But I don't see his name,"

Reiichi relaxed for a second, and then froze. She hoped to god her cousin didn't…

"Maybe it's under a nickname," Haruka mused, then chuckled to herself. "How cute would that be?"

"I don't have a nickname for Kanda!" Reiichi protested, but the blush on her face made the other two girls more suspicious.

"Hmm, there's a _Moyashi_ here," Kaori commented.

"That's Allen," Reiichi was quick to inform. "See, I don't have his number so will you give me back my phone now?"

"Why so hasty?" Shizuka smirked at her, keeping her sitting on the chair with her strength.

Then suddenly the other two girls squealed simultaneously. "Zero-chan…" Haruka grinned at her teasingly. "Maybe we should start addressing your boyfriend as your _koibito_—"

"Quiet! That's Lavi's doing!" Reiichi glared at both of them, but her face was too red for either of them to take her seriously. "He's not my—"

"_Koibito_," both of them chimed, smirking at her.

"Shizuka.." Reiichi groaned. "Please kill me now. _Please_,"

"Ooh, let's send a mushy message to Koibito-san!" Haruka beamed as Kaori started to press more buttons on her phone.

"Guys!" Reiichi begged. "Please don't do this to me!"

"If you had told us sooner about living with your _koibito_, Zero-chan," Kaori merely sniffed. "Maybe you've gotten this over and done with sooner,"

"That didn't help at all!" she protested.

"Okay," Haruka stuck out her tongue in concentration. "Let's write something like, '_Hey dear, I would cross a thousand oceans just to hold you tonight'_," and Reiichi tried not to cringe at how cheesy it sounded. "_'I would climb a thousand mountains just to be with you every single night'_,"

"Where did you even get that?" Reiichi demanded, but Haruka ignored her.

"'_Darling_', oh, put more heart and smiley symbols there, '_I miss you so much. I love you! xoxoxox'_"

"Kao-chan, don't you dare send that," she growled.

"Oh but I do," the other girl blinked nonchalantly. "See?" she turned the screen to show her and pressed the send button.

"Kao-chan!" she hissed. "Ugh I can't face Kanda tonight anymore!" she groaned.

The three of them only laughed at her. "Aww, Zero-chan," Haruka smiled. "Haven't you been dating him for four months already? Why the shyness?"

"Because!" she defended quite indignantly in the beginning, but then stopped. Haruka did have a point, because by right normal couples probably would have sent such cheesy messages to each other in their honeymoon period, but it's just that she was dating _Kanda_ who never did these kind of things. And she wasn't about to die of embarrassment doing those things either.

"Because…?"

Because she liked him so much that doing these kind of things just made her heart beat uncontrollably and she didn't even know if she could breathe sometimes. "…Nothing," she mumbled eventually.

It seemed like the other three of them read her mind anyway, because they grinned harder and she blushed even deeper.

"Okay, back to topic," Kaori flipped open her phone again. "We call Lavi-kun—"

"Fine!" Reiichi grounded out. "I'll talk to Kanda. Just, don't call Lavi," she pleaded. "_Please_,"

"Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Kaori snapped the phone shut, sliding it on the table over to her and she grabbed it back protectively. "This Saturday, Zero-chan," she grinned. "Don't forget it,"

It was highly unlikely at Reiichi would.

* * *

"No," Kanda predictably refused. "I am not going to meet your groupie, and they are not going to enter my goddamn house,"

"Kanda…" Reiichi frowned. "I don't have a choice, okay? They won't listen to me!"

The Japanese scowled. "No. They can sit outside the gate for all I care," he retorted.

"That's where you don't know them at all," she huffed. "They'll climb over the gate or pick your lock or something!" she groaned. "I'm being perfectly serious by the way,"

"Then why did you even agree?" he demanded. "You know I don't like strange people and shit—"

"They're my friends, Kanda," she cut him off sternly, and he shut his mouth. "Anyway they threatened to drag _Lavi_ into this," she emphasized. "You know how much worse that will be,"

"Fuck," he cursed. "How the hell do they know the stupid ass?"

"Lavi insists on meeting every single person I've met before," she sighed.

"Che," Kanda stood up from the dining table with much annoyance, storming over to the sink to dump his empty plate in. "I still refuse,"

Reiichi followed behind him, placing her dish in the sink with less force. "Kanda.."

"In fact," Kanda grabbed the sponge roughly, squirting detergent on it and forming suds. "Why the hell do they even want to come over?"

"They…found out," she answered reluctantly, watching him wash the dishes, since it was his turn today.

"Found out about what?" he demanded, looking at her.

"Us,"

"How?"

"Apparently the paparazzi was stalking us more than we thought," she mumbled, trying not to blush at her memory of the pictures—hold his hand, hugging him, kissing him—god.

"Tch," Kanda nearly dropped a plate roughly. "So what has that got to do with anything?"

"They want to meet you," she continued when he raised an eyebrow at her. "Because you're my…uh," she swallowed. "_Boyfriend_,"

Very rarely did either of them actually used a term of endearment, and so the atmosphere became slightly awkward, with only the sound of gushing water from the tap as Kanda rinsed the soapy plates. "Are they going to scream when they see me?" Kanda spoke up after a while.

Reiichi thought for a moment. "…I think so,"

"Then fuck, no,"

"They aren't all bad," she tried to defend. "Okay, fine, Haru is quite a big fan of yours and she might bug you a little, but Kao-chan and Shizuka are quite level headed…most of the time," she added.

Kanda snorted disbelievingly. "The answer is still no,"

"Just for an hour on Saturday," she pleaded.

"No,"

"Kanda.."

"No,"

Reiichi frowned. "It won't kill you, you know,"

Kanda dumped all the clean dishes on the rack for them to dry off and he turned to her scowling. "Rei," he began quite seriously, voice dropping lower. "If I say no, it means no," he stated. "So stop asking,"

Reiichi looked to the floor, feeling a little hurt. Honestly it wasn't really a big deal right? She knew Kanda wouldn't like it, but it seemed like he _hated_ it, actually. But it was just three friends coming over for a while. I mean, Lavi crashed over all the time and Allen and Lenalee came in rather freely sometimes too, but why did he have such an aversion to her friends?

"…Fine," she murmured, walking away from him with her head down.

Kanda watched her pad away guiltily, and he grabbed her wrist before she fully stepped out of the kitchen. "Why are you looking like that," he snapped harsher than he intended, and he felt her flinch slightly.

She turned to glare at him. "Because you can't agree with anything I ask of you!"

He narrowed his eyes at that. "_I_ can't agree?" he asked incredulously. "Why can't _you_ accede to my wishes for once?"

"For _once_?" she echoed angrily, stepping closer to hiss at him. "I've always been listening to you!"

"Like what?" he challenged her. "Like seeing that fucking Noah for nth time—"

"I'm not seeing Tyki anymore!" she scowled. "Like coming down to the basement after work because _you_ hate the offices, like waking up extra early everyday because _your_ definition of late is unnatural, like not hugging you because _you_ don't like it—"

"I never said I didn't like it!" he cut her off angrily, annoyed at how she was actually listing down points.

"…You don't?" she paused suddenly, looking curiously at him.

"Fuck," Kanda swore, letting go of her wrist and turning away to not look at her. "I told you that before," he grounded out, irritated. "Stop looking at me like that,"

Reiichi took a step cautiously towards him, first touching his shoulder, and then sliding her arms around his neck slowly, watching as a very faint pink started to show on his face as he looked away uncomfortably. "Kanda…" she murmured softly as she tried not to blush from touching him. "Sorry about just now," to which he grunted and reluctantly hugged her back. "I just don't get why you can't let my friends in,"

He sighed, pretending to not lean into her embrace because he actually liked it. "I don't like…people.." he explained with a little difficulty. "..who have a certain expectation of who I am,"

Reiichi leaned back a little to look at him in the eyes. Instead of those guarded dark eyes she was so used to, they suddenly looked a lot more vulnerable than usual, and that made her heart twinge. "Oh.." she touched his cheek softly, "I…I'll tell them no," she smiled gently.

Kanda closed his eyes, enjoyed how she brushed her fingers across his cheek slowly, and the other arm still around his neck told him that she understood. She always did. And suddenly that made him feel guiltier because he realized that maybe Reiichi had been right in what she was shouting at him earlier, because she always had been making exceptions for him—like how she never complained on how often they ate soba, or accompanying him into things he never bothered to explain much…

He sighed eventually, hands trailing over her back languidly. "They can come," he muttered, although he didn't want to say it.

Reiichi paused for a moment. "Are you sure?" she asked worriedly. "Because if you really don't want to then you don't have to force yourself…"

Again, she was thinking too much for him. She needed to do things she wanted too, sometimes. "Yes," he huffed, annoyed that he had to repeat himself. "But you owe me one," he concluded, frowning.

Reiichi smiled at him and he turned away at how her smile kept affecting him—tightening of chest, faster pulse, all because of one stupid _smile_, he couldn't fucking believe it himself, and she hugged him tightly, nearly causing him to blush. Except he didn't.

"Thank you, Kanda," she beamed at him sincerely.

"Che," he grunted, trying to stay nonchalant.

She let go of him slowly, blushing slightly and smiling at him bashfully. "So, what do you want to do now?" she glanced towards the television. "Another movie?" Suddenly she felt Kanda gazing at her with that intense way of his and she started to fidget. "Kanda?" she enquired, mouth starting to become dry with the predatory way he stepped closer to her. "Um—"

Kanda's eyes darkened, a sinful smirk starting to curl on his lips as he trailed one hand down the side of her arm and the other beneath her jaw, feeling her arch slightly into his touch. "You owe me," he whispered into her ear, voice low that sent tingles down her spine before he captured her lips in his, tongue swiping out to taste her and entering her mouth. Her hands immediately came to the front to pull him closer, kissing him back while he smirked against her mouth, starting to play with the sensitive skin just above the waistband of her shorts.

She tasted so incredibly _good_ that it was driving him crazy, and he kissed her harder to feel her more, and more, until she started to let out small moans that encouraged him even further. He only pulled back for one second to breathe, then continued to take her again, wanting to explore every part of her mouth. He didn't know they were moving across the room till her back hit the wall, and it was so much easier for him to push himself even closer to her, hands now slipping up her shirt to graze her stomach, her back, her skin.

He felt her hands gripping his back tightly, nails clawing when he made her gasp particularly loudly at one point—and it was getting harder to keep his self control when her fingers slipped lower and lower till they were stroking his extremely sensitive lower back, and he couldn't stand it any longer, hands reaching further up her shirt to unclasp her bra.

Reiichi broke off the kiss suddenly, face flushing red and panting heavily, trying to press herself further against the wall. "W-what are you doing?" she stuttered, and Kanda kind of liked how her shirt had rode up to expose her stomach.

"What does it look like we're doing?" he raised an eyebrow, leaning his head nearer to her so that he could lick her neck.

"K-kanda!" she held him slightly away from her, trying to breathe normally despite the furious blush on her face.

"What?" he frowned, not getting her reaction at all.

Reiichi couldn't even look at him. "We're not…we're not…" she spat out finally, like it killed her to say it. "We're not doing _it_!" she give him a meaningful look, hoping he'd get the message.

He had the gall to look blankly at her. "Why not?"

"Because…" she continued, unable to believe him. "It's only been four months!"

"So?"

She groaned. "Kanda, I'm not one of those girls you've slept with before, okay? I'm not going to sleep with you after dating you for _four_ months," she glared at him.

"Tch," he snorted, a slight scowl on his face. "Fine," then he added as an afterthought, "You'll probably freak out too much anyway,"

"Hey!" she shoved him indignantly, flushing at his smirk.

Unfortunately that didn't do much, because he was still trapping her to the wall. He leaned forward again, lips brushing against her neck gently as he blew at certain places, causing her to squeak. "I-I thought I said—"

"I'm not going to," he muttered, feeling her relax slightly. "But you haven't given me what I want yet," he continued darkly, this time trailing a series of kisses down her neck, causing her to flush harder, laying a trembling hand on his shoulder as he sucked on her skin…then bit it. She jumped at the sensation, feeling his hot tongue swirl over her extremely sensitive skin and she couldn't stop the small sounds that slipped her mouth.

"K..K-kanda…ngh!" she bit her lip hard, clenching her fingers when he bit another spot. "What do y-you.." she squirmed when he started to lick at her collarbone, his hands lightly stroking the skin just at the edge of her shorts "..w-want.." she managed in between trying to breathe and trying not to give in with how good her body was feeling.

Kanda didn't answer her for a few moments, too busy paying attention to her neck till he moved up again and breathed lightly next to her ear, a dark chuckle escaping his lips, causing her breath to hitch noticeably—which he did notice and he smirked opening his mouth to whisper in his deep baritone.

"To mark you,"

* * *

"Kanda…." Reiichi growled, tugging at the turtleneck she was wearing, the uncomfortable feeling choking her slightly. "This is all your fault! Why did you have to do that?" she demanded, annoyed that all he did was to smirk at her.

"You liked it," he shrugged, smirking wider at how she flushed even more brilliantly.

"That's not the point!" she groaned. "You didn't have to leave…_marks_!" she yanked one part of her collar to prove her point, red spots remarkably prominent on her pale skin. "Lavi is going to notice this and he'll have _a lot_ to say about it," she scowled, then let out a frustrated noise further. "And my friends are coming this Saturday! They'll never let me forget about this, I swear—"

"Rei," Kanda rolled his eyes at her reaction. "It's damn winter now. No one will see them with the amount of layers you wear," he snorted. "Besides, they'll go away by Saturday,"

Reiichi frowned. "I highly doubt that," she sniffed.

After she had bathed in the morning and properly checked herself in the mirror did she realize what exactly Kanda had meant by _marking_, because her entire neck till her collarbone was littered with _hickeys_ and they seemed deep to boot. She had stared at them for nearly ten minutes blushing like crazy till she realized what trouble exactly those marks were going to cost her. She didn't get a chance to bitch about it to Kanda in the morning—since she was wearing a lot of layers and couldn't show him her point, and thank god Lavi didn't seem to notice anything at work, so after dinner was the perfect time to do so.

"Why are you wearing that anyway?" Kanda looked at her long sleeved turtle neck shirt with distaste. "We have central heating,"

Reiichi scowled further, flushing deeper. "To _hide_ those marks, you prick!" she clenched her fists in exasperation.

"What for?" It was only him in the house now. And he rather liked seeing the marks he made...

She kicked him for that.

"Owww—what the fuck, Rei!" he grumbled, smirk slipping off immediately, flopping down on the couch to rub his shin where Lenalee and Reiichi _loved_ to abuse for some reason.

When he kept rubbing his leg, Reiici felt slightly guilty and sat down beside him, touching his arm softly. "Sorry," she sighed. "I didn't mean to kick you so hard,"

"Che, you did," he rolled his eyes, giving the sore spot one last press before he leaned back.

"Maybe I did," she agreed, smiling slightly at the grumpy look he gave her. "Anyway, my friends are coming over at around 2, after lunch. Is that okay?"

Kanda scowled. "Can I say no?"

"No, you can't,"

"Tch,"

* * *

Despite how confidently Kanda had told her, the hickeys did not fade by Saturday. In fact, she had no idea why, because those were just surface marks and by right they should have been gone. Only she could see faint traces—but still visible—of the love bites on her neck and she resigned to wearing another turtleneck, promising to get back at Kanda for this.

And also to get back at him for purposely raising the temperature of their heater, because she knew that their house did not suddenly get warmer by itself, thereby forcing her to stop wearing those turtlenecks over the past week when it wasn't absolutely necessary. Apparently he liked to see the red marks, and it was downright mortifying to have him smirk at her almost _permanently_.

But that wasn't the issue that she was mulling over now, because once the days started to get closer to Saturday, she started becoming nervous. It was ridiculous, because by right _she_ shouldn't be the one to feel nervous since they were _her_ friends—Kanda should be the anxious one only that he was _never_ anxious, damn him—but she kept wondering if Kanda would take well to her admittedly insane friends.

First of all, all three of them were more or less fans of him—Haruka the most expressive of them all—and she knew Kanda didn't really like his fans. At all. She wanted Kanda to perhaps, get along well with people from her life, but it seemed a little hard to imagine. She'd settle for 'tolerating', for now.

And so when the doorbell rang at 2 p.m sharp on Saturday, she sighed determinedly and strode to the intercom, smiling when she saw her three friends waving enthusiastically at the camera. Kanda scowled and disappeared into the kitchen, most likely to prepare green tea rather grudgingly.

She opened the gate and door to let them in, surprised when Haruka pushed a rather heavy nicely wrapped bunch of fruits into her hands. "From all three of us," the girl beamed, eyes wide with excitement as they darted about scanning _Kanda Yuu's_ abode.

"Thanks," she put the fruits on the side table, stepping aside and gesturing for their winter coats to be passed over.

"Ojamashimasu~" they chimed when they entered, stepping into the unfamiliar house.

"Any trouble getting here?" Reiichi asked after she hung their coats and scarves, guiding them to sit at the low table in the living room.

"Not really," Shizuka was the only one who bothered to answer her as the other two scrutinized the rest of the house. "I did expect Kanda Yuu to live somewhere in this area," she shrugged. "Oh by the way, I think there're some reporters loitering outside,"

Reiichi sighed, frowning at little, but it couldn't be helped.

"Ne, where's Koibito-san?" Haruka nudged her excitedly.

"Don't call him that!" she hissed hurriedly, starting to blush.

"Yeah, we're all dying to meet Koibito-san, Zero-chan," Kaori smiled at her, not helping her situation any.

But it was true, because Kanda hadn't stepped out of the kitchen although he was supposed to since a few minutes ago.

"Kanda," she called, trying not to strangle the three of them who started to mouth "_Kandaaaa_" teasingly at her and giggle uncontrollably.

When there was no answer, she got up and headed to the kitchen, finding him standing at the counter scowling. "Kanda, what's wrong?" she asked softly, noticing that he had a rather strange look in his eyes.

What's wrong? Kanda would tell you what was wrong. For the time ever in his life, he felt a certain sense of dread that he didn't particularly like. He didn't want to meet her friends at all, because he was, god forbid, _afraid_ of what the people closest to Reiichi would think of him. Lavi was different, because Lavi knew him so well, but these strangers were, well, _strangers_. Normally he didn't give a fuck about what other people thought of him, but somehow this was different. Somehow it felt like he hadn't been _accepted_ as her boyfriend yet, and that was why they insisted to meet him. Or maybe it was just because he was Kanda Yuu.

Who knew.

Kanda scowled deeper, because he knew he already agreed to this. "Nothing," he answered, moving to take the tray that contained the tea he had prepared.

"I'll take this," Reiichi smiled and swatted his hands away, pushing him lightly out of the kitchen. "You go and say hi to them,"

He grumbled, not really understanding why until he stepped into his living room and immediately covered his ears from the shriek that was emitted.

"OH MY GOD!" one of them, he didn't really care actually, screamed three seconds after she laid eyes on him, nearly killing his eardrums. "Kao-chan! Shizzy!" she turned to the other two who were at least trying not to freak out that he _existed_—he had to give them credit for that at least—"Tell me I'm not dreaming, tell me I'm not dreaming, tell me I'm not dreaming—"

Reiichi stepped past him with the tray, setting it down to the low table. "You're not dreaming," she deadpanned, shaking her head.

"I'm in _Kanda Yuu's_ house," Haruka started dumbly, as if something just struck her.

"Yeah,"

"And I'm seeing the man in the flesh, _in his own house_,"

"Yeah,"

"And he's looking more gorgeous than ever in my eyes,"

"Uh…"

"And you, one of my best gal pals, is going to marry _Kanda Yuu_—"

"What? Wait!"

"And we'll all be related, because we're like sisters and I'll be _related_ to _Kanda Yuu_—"

"Haru—"

"Oh my god I think I need I think to breathe,"

"You clearly do," Reiichi sighed.

Kanda just stared with a 'what the fuck' expression, standing still the same place as he stopped just now. "What the fuck are you on?" he demanded.

"Kanda!" Reiichi glared at him for the harsh tone. "Stop standing there and come over," she gesturing him to move, and he did so reluctantly, settling in the seat next to her.

"I'm actually sitting across _Kanda Yuu_…" Kaori mumbled, eyes blinking in disbelief and a star stuck expression that Reiichi never saw on her face was plain to see.

At least Shizuka managed to control herself even if she did think Kanda was ridiculously _hot_ in just a shirt and jeans—she bowed slightly in his direction, and Kanda decided she was much better than the other two, even if the blonde looked more rugged and tough than he did.

"Kanda," Reiichi was starting the introductions as she poured the tea and handed out the cups. "The girl who killed your hearing abilities is Ayami Haruka," she smiled wryly, "This is Tanaka Kaori," she passed one of the cups to the short raven haired girl who seemed to have jolted out of her shock. "And this is Sato Shizuka," she gave the last cup to the blonde.

"Finally," she sighed to the three of them. "Yes, you are not dreaming, this _is_ Kanda Yuu,"

There was a moment of pause to let them take it in, and Kanda actually felt uncomfortable with the way three of them were eyeing him.

"Koibito-san," Haruka began, only to be cut off by Reiichi.

"Haru, will you drop that?" she demanded, face flushed. "_Please_,"

"Why?" the girl only blinked innocently at her. "Kanda-san didn't seem to mind,"

"That's because he has no idea what you're talking about!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kanda added in, proving Reiichi's point.

Haruka smiled, pretending to be oblivious. "Eh? That's how Zero-chan calls you right?"

"I do not!" Reiichi denied rather heatedly.

"Who the fuck is Zero-chan?" Kanda demanded, because he was getting more lost with whatever the girl was saying.

"Your girlfriend, Kanda-san," Shizuka sighed, but she was smirking quite amusedly.

"Everyone calls her Rei-chan," Kaori explained for his benefit. "So since we're special, we get to call her differently,"

"Whatever," he snorted.

"So," Kaori began again, clearing her throat and starting to smirk in that teasing way Reiichi endured the last time, "Kanda-san," she smiled at the model who looked back rather suspiciously. "It's a pleasure to meet you who have captured our Zero-chan's iron heart," she grinned at how Reiichi looked like she wanted to slam her head on the table, "But before that, you need to pass our test before we consider you her official boyfriend,"

"Why the fuck do I need to do that?" he scowled, glaring at her. "I don't need your goddamn opinion,"

"Because," Shizuka drummed the table boredly, apparent that she had gotten used to the presence of _Kanda Yuu_ already, "We don't hand over Zero-chan to anyone, not even if it's _Kanda Yuu_,"

Kanda opened his mouth to retort but unfortunately it seemed like the three girls were dead set on him now. Reiichi could only sigh and drink her tea, knowing that she could never stop them when they were like that.

"What's Zero-chan's birthday?" Haruka—the girl whom he labeled at the one he wanted to avoid the most—suddenly pressed her hand on the table, looking at him seriously.

"Why the hell do I have to answer that?"

"Answer it," all of them firmly insisted at the same time, waiting expectantly.

Reiichi paused in her drink, suddenly realizing that she actually had never told Kanda her birthday. Then again, he never bothered to ask. Four months of dating and he probably didn't know her birthday. What a joke.

"….April 21st," Kanda muttered reluctantly after a while.

"How do you know that?" she blinked at him, honestly surprised. "Did Lavi tell you?"

"Hey, hey, what kind of question is that?" Kaori snapped her fingers in front of them. "He should know your birthday! It's the most basic thing!"

"It just never came up in conversation!" she defended, because it was true.

"But still, since Koibito-san got it correct anyway…" Haruka smiled widely. "It's a plus point!" to which Shizuka nodded.

"What plus point?" Reiichi frowned.

"It means he cares enough to know even if you didn't tell him," Kaori grinned, giving Kanda a thumbs up to which he tried to ignore how uncomfortable that sentence made him.

"The usagi just makes a huge fuss every year about it!" Kanda grounded out.

"I never knew _Kanda Yuu_ was such a tsundere," Shizuka commented, to which Kanda glared at her for.

"So, Zero-chan, what's your koibito's birthday?" Haruka turned on Reiichi now.

She groaned, resigned to the fact that Haruka was going to call Kanda that for the rest of his life. "6th June," she replied. "Doesn't everyone know that already?"

"You didn't know it when we were in high school,"

"I did!"

"But you never cared when we celebrated his birthday!"

"That's because it was downright freaky to celebrate someone's birthday whom you don't even know!"

"But the entire girl population in our school did that!"

"Guys, digressing here," Shizuka, waved a hand between Reiichi and Haruka who had started off in their own argument.

Kanda merely looked like he wanted to get them out as soon as possible.

"Next question for Kanda-san," Kaori perked up. "What is Zero-chan's favourite dessert?"

Kanda scowled, clearly irritated that he was forced to go through this. "That disgusting parfait that tastes like shit—"

"Kanda!" Reiichi shoved him lightly. "I told you to never mention that again!"

"But it's true, isn't it?" he coolly countered.

"Hey, no lover's spat here," Kaori, tapped the table. "Now, her favourite day of the week?"

"Why do you keep asking me these stupid questions?" Kanda demanded, drinking one cup of tea in one gulp and slamming it on the table.

"If you are really serious about Zero-chan then you will answer them," Kaori looked at him seriously, daring him to challenge her.

"Kao-chan, I don't think…" Reiichi spoke up, but she stopped when the other two girls who were listening attentively shot her a look.

"Kanda-san, her favourite day of the week?" Kaori prompted again.

"Thursday," Kanda glared, wishing that her friends weren't female so that he could actually punch them.

"Favourite colour?"

"White,"

"Flowers?"

"Blue roses,"

"Character?"

"The blonde bitch—"

"It's Cloud!" Reiichi had to correct him for the millionth time and her friends openly snickered at her.

"Tch, whatever,"

Kaori wasn't done yet though. "Her preferred music genre?"

Kanda growled, getting more annoyed at how the questions won't stop. "Classical,"

Reiichi could only stare dumbstruck as Kaori went through a list of her favorites and hates, and she was extremely shocked that Kanda was answering them all correctly even though she knew she had never told him about them. Her favourite day of the week? Like who would have a conversation about that? So how did he know it was Thursday? Either Lavi had told him—then again, did she ever tell Lavi that kind of trivial matter?—or Kanda somehow knew her a lot more than she realized.

"Final question," Kaori smirked finally.

"Spit it out, woman," Kanda scowled.

"What does Zero-chan hate the most?"

It sounded like an innocent question actually, but the look on Kaori's face seemed extremely suspicious. Likewise, the other two girls were waiting with bated breath like this was the question to do or die—and Kanda frowned at that. Obviously he knew what Reiichi hated the most—_storms_—because even Lavi didn't like to talk about that sensitive topic with her.

Huh. Sensitive.

He glanced at Reiichi once, noting at she was twisting her fingers worriedly and her lips were pressed into a firm line, but she didn't say anything, only looking back at him when she noticed him gazing at her.

"You can find that out yourself," he stated eventually. "Are we done?"

He did not expect the another sharp squeal that nearly made him deaf from the screaming girl aka Haruka. "Zero-chan!" she beamed lunging forward to hug Reiichi tightly. "He's perfect! _Kanda Yuu_ is seriously so perfect!"

Reiich coughed, trying to breathe from the death embrace, but she was trying not smile as well.

Shizuka whistled, shaking her head. "Man, I didn't expect this either," she looked at Kaori. "He actually got it right,"

"I believe congratulations are in order," Kaori beamed at Kanda widely. "You passed,"

"I don't fucking care about that," Kanda snapped. "Will you people get out of my house now?"

"Kanda," Reiichi frowned at him, but he scoffed and drank another cup of tea. "And Haru, I need to breathe here!"

"Sorry," Haruka pulled back, but she bounced excitedly on her seat. "I can't believe it! _Kanda Yuu's_ really in love with you!"

Kanda nearly spat out his tea, a slight tinge of red starting to show on his cheeks. "What the fuck woman?"

That only served to make the girl shriek louder in jubilance. "Oh my god he's blushing!" she shook Kaori who was beside her with enthusiasm, eyes sparkling, "_Kanda Yuu_ is actually blushing!"

"I'm not blushing!" Kanda denied rather angrily but it didn't do much difference. "Stop fucking saying that!"

"Yeah he is…" Kaori stared at him, starting to grin. "I'm actually seeing the _Kanda Yuu_ blushing over our Zero-chan," she grinned wider. "Get real,"

"Guys!" Reiichi cut them off, her own face slightly red. "Stop that!"

"No way," Kaori smirked at her. "I think seeing _Kanda Yuu_ blushing in the flesh just about made my day," she grinned at Kanda. "You really love her,"

"I—" Kanda nearly spluttered, scowling even deeper. "Shut the hell up!"

"It's rather cute, don't you think?" Shizuka snorted, a wry smile on her face.

"_Cute_?" Kanda repeated with barely concealed disgust ready to launch into his predictable aversion to cute. "I'm not fucking _cute_—"

Unfortunately the other three girls started to burst into laughter and amusement at him and totally ignored his plight. Reiichi was looking away from him at the floor, biting her lip and trying not to smile while blushing heavily.

"Since you passed the test," Kaori was smirking. "We have more questions for the official couple!"

"What the fuck? Goddamit!" Kanda swore angrily, almost banging the table. "Enough with the stupid questions!"

"Relax, Kanda-san, it's Zero-chan's turn now," Kaori smiled as Reiichi started to protest.

"Kao-chan, don't—"

"Which part of Koibito-san do you like the most?" Haruka quipped anyway, ignoring her pleads.

Kanda raised an eyebrow, glancing at Reiich coolly. When he was being interrogated, it wasn't exactly as much fun as it was aggravating on his nerves, but now that he was a spectator, he was quite curious about how Reiichi would answer. After all, it wasn't like Reiichi ever told him directly how much she appreciated his features.

"What do you mean 'which part'?" Reiichi asked uneasily, trying to buy time.

"Physically, of course! Since you've always been saying—"

"Kanda Yuu isn't _that_ good looking," Shizuka imitated her, even with the voice tone and the roll of the eyes. "I don't get why all of you are so enamored with him, especially you, Shizuka!" she continued much to Reiichi's mortification. "You could pick a better model to fawn over, like—"

"Okay! I get it!" she shouted, groaning. "I get it,"

"What better model?" Kanda frowned, glaring at her. "Like who?"

Reiichi bit her lips uneasily. "No one important—"

"_Tyki Mikk_," Haruka sang.

There was a silent pause in which Kanda tried to keep down a feeling of boiling anger that started to seep into his veins. "You think that fucking Noah—that fucking _bastard_—is better looking than _me_?" he demanded, voice low and full of aggravation. "You actually—"

"Haruka, that was so uncalled for!" Reiichi glared at the girl who merely winked back. "You know I said that only because you guys were so biased towards Kanda!"

"Did you really?" Kaori shrugged, watching Kanda scowl deeper and clench his fist, and she nearly laughed because it was so easy to get him jealous.

The model looked at Reiichi with something nearly like betrayal. "I fucking can't _believe_ that you think that goddamn asshole—"

"I don't!" Reiichi tried to insist, growling low.

"Then what the hell was that?" he demanded.

"Like I said," she frowned. "I was trying to irritate them because they won't shut up about you!" then she continued softer at his displeased gaze, reaching beside her to place a hand on his arm. "I...I never thought he was,"

"Che," Kanda scoffed, but he looked less unhappy now.

"So Zero-chan," Kaori chimed and Reiichi realized the entire thing was setup with the way her three friends were not so discreetly smirking at her, "Mind if you answer our question now?"

"….His back," she muttered eventually when all four pairs of eyes started to pressure her.

"So you _do_ have a back fetish," much to her humiliation, Kanda was the one to drawl that. "So that time you were using the Jealousy design as an excuse or what?"

She flushed heavily. "I already explained to you my interpretation for that!"

"You didn't need to touch me then," he coolly countered, starting to smirk slightly.

"I..I-I.." she shoved him, not knowing what to say to that and she turned to her three friends who merely watched them like it was free entertainment. "You guys!" she hissed. "That was on purpose!" she accused.

"Of course it was," Haruka shrugged nonchalantly, but she was grinning too much. "We _know_ how unvocal you are about this, and we believe Koibito-san has the _right_ to know about your feelings,"

"Me?" she demanded. "I've told him so many times that I like him and he's never once said that to me!"

"What," Kanda narrowed his eyes, feeling affronted. "You want me to say that flirty _mush_?"

"For once, maybe," she muttered. "And you seem like _you_ like hearing that _flirty mush_ from me even when it's so embarrassing!"

"Kanda-san, I believe _you_ have something to say to Zero-chan," Kaori grinned calmly, when the silence after Reiichi's outburst seemed to stretch as Kanda looked away scowling.

"You stay out of this," Kanda glared at her. "I'm not saying it," he stated firmly.

Reiichi snorted. "I didn't expect you to," she rolled her eyes. "Don't kill yourself over it," she sulked, but inwardly she knew it was never going to happen anyway.

"Tch,"

Shizuka spoke up when silence fell again. "Well, I've got a question too,"

"Shizuka," Reiichi scowled. "No,"

* * *

The next few minutes were futile as Reiichi refused to answer any more questions and they were starting to get bored.

"Ne, Zero-chan, you've got any food?" Haruka pouted at her. "I'm feeling slightly hungry,"

"Get the hell out and buy your own food," Kanda snorted at which Reiichi frowned at him for.

"I'll check the kitchen," she conceded, thinking of what kind of food they had. "Or we can eat the fruits you guys brought," she suggested.

Haruka brightened up. "I'll help you cut them!" she announced joyfully, standing up and padding towards the kitchen like she owned the place. "Ooh, _Kanda Yuu's_ kitchen!"

"Haru!" Reiichi sighed at her, and followed the other girl quickly in case she did something.

Kanda made to move also, because he didn't like some stranger going into _his_ kitchen, but Shizuka interrupted him.

"Kanda-san," she gave him a look that requested him to stay. "We've got a few things we want to say to you," she glanced at Kaori who nodded.

He looked at them both suspiciously. "Haven't you said enough?"

"No, this time without Zero-chan," Kaori explained, and he noticed that the two of them wore blank expressions that reminded him of a serious Lavi and that unsettled his nerves a little, so he stayed seated.

"Kanda-san," Kaori began after a quick glance at where Reiichi and Haruka disappeared to before continuing. "I must admit that I am quite impressed. Especially with that last question just now," at his confused look, she explained further. "You see, none of us truly knows what she hates the most…she doesn't like to talk about it,"

Oh, so he had been right all along.

"But we can guess," Shizuka added. "A little," she smiled wryly. "And if Zero-chan trusts you to know about it, chances are you are really important to her…even more than us,"

Kanda didn't say anything, but merely set his lips in a taunt line.

"You must forgive me when I admit that I was very much skeptical about you," she continued seriously. "Why would _you_ date our Zero-chan, even if you are Lavi-kun's best friend?" she mused. "And for Zero-chan to fall for _you_ of all people…that itself is quite a miracle," she ignored the scowl he made at that. "But we can see clearly that she likes you deeply, because it's the first time she's ever looked so happy…"

"What's your point?" Kanda muttered impatiently.

"Our point is," Kaori looked at him sternly. "If you don't continue to make her happy, we will make sure _your_ life will be extra difficult. If you ever hurt her or make her cry…"

He glared at them harshly for even suggesting such. "I won't fucking do that!"

"I hope not," neither of them looked bothered at his death stare. "Even if you do love her, Kanda-san, sometimes you hurt the ones you love more deeply without knowing it," Kaori smiled hollowly.

"I don't need you to tell me that," he snorted.

"One more thing," Shizuka quipped when Kanda was sorely tempted to leave from the table. "You are not having sex with her until you guys are married, is that clear?"

He paused, scowling. Honestly they had nothing to do with what he and Reiichi did. "Why the hell not?"

The blonde didn't answer his question but instead asked, "If I offered to sleep with you now, would you take me?"

"What the fuck?" he blanched.

"Yes? No?" Shizuka tapped the table coolly.

"Fucking hell no!"

Kaori raised an eyebrow. "But judging from the number of girls you've slept with before—hey, don't give me that look, I do work for a newspaper, you know—"

Kanda growled, annoyed with how everyone kept assuming he was some kind of prostitute or something. "I've only slept with like…four!"

"Five, actually,"

"Whatever," he snarled. "I'm not some fucking _slut_, goddammit!"

"Never said you were," Shizuka rolled her eyes. "We just want to make sure you're absolutely serious about Zero-chan, and I mean serious enough that you're marrying her, before you touch her,"

Kanda wanted to retort against how people again, _assumed_ he was never serious about relationships but Kaori cut him off.

"Yes, Kanda-san," she looked at him disapprovingly. "We saw the marks on her neck, and we know they aren't mosquito bites,"

He paused. "How the hell do you know about that?" he demanded, because Reiichi was wearing a turtle neck that covered everything.

"Who wears a turtleneck in a house with central heating?" she countered. "And when she tugs at the collar it's rather obvious," she snorted. "So please, control yourself,"

"Tch,"

* * *

"Kanda-san, would you give me an autograph? Pleaseeee?" Haruka whined. "Please?"

"I already said I won't, goddamn it!" he nearly shouted at her, frustrated when she didn't get the hint after asking more than ten times.

"Haru, give him a break," Reiichi frowned at her.

"Fine," the girl relented, hoping out the door to put on her shoes. "But I'm bugging him again the next time we come over!"

"Oh hell no," Kanda immediately denied. "You people are never stepping foot into my house ever in my fucking life!"

"Too bad, Kanda-san," Shizuka grinned at him. "We know where you live,"

Finally, the trio had enough fun hanging about in his house—after demanding a tour of the house (of course they weren't allowed in his room though), and getting fascinated with the dojo and the pool—or his roof balcony, his stack, actually Lavi's stack of games and dvds and basically, his entire house in general. Why? Because he was _Kanda Yuu._

He swore at least one of them was taking secret pictures of his house.

"Do you guys know the way back?" Reiichi asked, holding the front door open for them as they wrapped into their coats and scarves in preparation for the cold weather outside.

"Yup," Kaori assured her, stepping forwards to hug her tightly in farewell. "We had a blast today," she smiled.

The other two did likewise and they all squeezed her tight in a group hug, much to Kanda's disgust. "Take care, girl," Shizuka patted her head. "We'll see you soon,"

"Mmm hmm," Haruka agreed and dipped her head lower to whisper in her ear. "Treasure your boyfriend well, okay? You won't find anyone else who will love you as much," she paused. "Except for Lavi-kun,"

"Except Lavi," she agreed, chuckling softly.

"Thanks for your hospitality, Kanda-san!" Kaori grinned as they all made way out of the gate, "And take care of Zero-chan for us, yeah?" she called back.

Kanda merely rolled his eyes, stalking away.

Reiichi shook her head, smiling and waving as they disappeared out into the main road.

* * *

Reiichi found Kanda in the kitchen, washing the tea tray, tea pot, cups and dishes. She went beside him, picking up the things he had begun soaping and rinsing them under the tap.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked conversationally, smiling fondly.

"Che, it was," Kanda disagreed, but he didn't sound too annoyed. "Especially the brown haired one—"

"Haru,"

"Whatever," he snorted. "She's not going to _touch_ me ever again,"

Reiichi chuckled softly. "Well, I did warn you about her. But the other two didn't scream, at least," she mused. "By the way, what were you guys talking about when I was in the kitchen? I heard you say something, but it wasn't very clear,"

"They were being meddling bitches," he scoffed, ignoring the elbow in his side at his comment.

"But true, they do meddle a lot," she agreed. "But at least they didn't play a part in Lavi's matchmaking," she snorted. "_That_ would have been worse than a disaster,"

Kanda shuddered just to even think about it. "Tch," he muttered, scrubbing one of the dishes particularly hard. "Your groupie is fucking troublesome," he scowled, turning on the tap to full blast to rinse everything.

"You think everyone is troublesome," she stated.

He shrugged, because it was true.

The dishes, cups and pot were washed quickly, dumped on the tray to let them dry. Kanda wiped his wet hands nonchalantly on the hand towel, pausing for a while.

"Keep them," he suddenly said, and Reiichi blinked.

"Hmm?"

"Your…friends," he muttered reluctantly, like saying the word pained him.

"Kanda…" she smiled slowly, fingertips brushing the edge of his elbow, not caring if hers was still wet, turning him slightly to face her.

He scowled to cover up how uncomfortable those two words had made him, but he faced her anyway, watching her smile at him happily. She tightened her hold on his arm, leaning forward on tiptoes to kiss him softly on the lips once, tilting her head bashfully. "Thank you for today. I appreciate it a lot," she murmured, arms reaching up to hug him around the neck, eyes shutting blissfully when she felt his warmth surround her.

"Why do like this stuff so much?" he grumbled, shifting his hands to hold her properly, scowling slightly at how his face started to heat up involuntarily.

"Because you rarely do this," she answered, leaning her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent.

He paused.

"Did you actually want me to say that flirty _mush_?" he asked incredulously, just to make sure. "Because I meant it when I said I won't,"

"Just drop it, Kanda," she scowled, flushing.

"No, seriously—"

With one hand, she covered his mouth, fast enough to silence the statement he so clearly wanted to emphasize again.

Trust him to ruin a good moment.

* * *

Omake

_Hey dear~ I would cross a thousand oceans just to hold you tonight. I would climb a thousand mountains just to be with you every single night._ _Darling_~ _I miss you so much~~ I love you! xoxoxox_

Kanda's eye twitched. The amount of smileys and love symbols mashed in between the words made the message difficult to read, and once he actually deciphered it, he honestly had no idea how he was supposed to react to it. Was he supposed to reply back?

"Hmm, Yuu? What are you looking at?" Lavi peered over his shoulder curiously, trying to hold Kanda down when the model tried to shrug him off. "A love message from Rei-chan?"

"Nothing!" Kanda denied, shutting his phone with a loud click.

"Your _nothing_ is always _something_!" Lavi grinned, eyes set on the phone.

With a lunge, he swiped the device off the model's hand, running around in the basement as Kanda scrambled after him.

"USAGI! FUCK!" Kanda shouted angrily, "GIVE IT BACK!"

Lavi ignored him and concentrated on running, flipping the phone open to peer at what his friend had been staring at for the past minute.

His eyes flickered over the overly eye catching emoticons and cheesy lines, then he saw the number at the bottom of the message. "REI-CHAN SENT THIS TO YOU?" He shrieked loudly, much to Kanda's growing irritation. "OOH! HEY DEAR~" Lavi started to read it word for word in a falsetto voice. "I WOULD CROSS A THOUSAND OCEANS JUST TO HOLDDDDDD YOU TONIGHT~"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

" I WOULD CLIMB A THOUSAND MOUNTAINS JUST TO BEEEEEE WITH YOU EVERY SINGLE NIGHT~" he cackled at how Kanda's face was just turning red—from fury or embarrassment he didn't know. "DARLINGGGGGG~ I MISS YOU SO MUCH—"

"IT'S NOT HER GODDAMNIT!" Kanda hissed loudly, finally managing to corner his idiot friend and grappled for the phone.

"BUT ITS FROM HER NUMBER~" Lavi sang, "SEE, THE PROOF IS CLEARLY ON YOUR PHONE~"

"IT'S OBVIOUSLY NOT REI!" Kanda denied, trying to reach his phone which Lavi held about a centimeter out of reach. Damn the bastard for being taller than he was. "GIVE MY FUCKING PHONE BACK!"

"But you have to reply Rei-chan!" the redhead grinned as Kanda cursed at him angrily. "Aww, don't be like that," he snickered. "Tell you what," he said seriously and Kanda paused for a moment. "Since you're so _icky_ about sending a mushy message, a simple '_I love you too_,' would suffice, don't you think?"

"Fucking hell, no!" Kanda glared.

Lavi ignored it, fingers pressing the phone buttons even as he held it over his head. "Hey, you're going to deny it?" he threatened.

Kanda scowled, flushing slightly but made no retort. "Just, give it back you asshole!" he tackled the other harder, elbowing the redhead roughly in the stomach and grabbing his phone back when Lavi let out a wheeze of pain. "Ow—Yuu—"

"What the fuck!" Kanda stared at his own screen which had just one button away from sending the reply Lavi had typed without even looking at the screen. "Holy shit, you freak!"

Lavi sniffed indignantly. "Don't be such an ass about it, Yuu," he rubbed his stomach, wincing. "It was _duh_ obvious that Rei-chan didn't type that," he snorted. "Probably one of her friends did, but it won't hurt to reply it anyway,"

"Che, whatever," Kanda flicked his phone shut, stuffing it in his pocket angrily. "Don't touch my phone, loser,"

Lavi pouted, still rubbing the sore spot on his stomach. Then he paused watching Kanda for a moment. The Japanese had his lips pressed into a taunt line, eyes brimming with irritation-probably at him-but somehow the model's posture looked a little slumped.

"Did you _want_ Rei-chan to send you that?" he looked at Kanda suspiciously.

Lavi totally did not miss the guilty aversion of the Japanese eyes as the other scowled.

"Shut the fuck up,"

* * *

**Owari.**

Originally, it was meant for Reiichi to attend her high school graduation gathering, and Kanda would crash it eventually because someone told him someone was putting moves on Reiichi, but well, it turned out to be something totally different OTL.

Rei is zero, so that's why her friends call her that. They're in the month of January, just for extra info.

I just felt whether or not Kanda would sleep with Reiichi issue had to be tackled. I mean, he is a _man_, and his principles and values are different from Reiichi's but I believe he will respect her decisions. :D Although, if he waits till their wedding day he's going to wait a few years HAHAHA More incentive to marry her earlier? I won't write smut as tempting as it is though, because I'm a young and innocent girl *innocent blink* :D

This chapter is like one big conversation going on without much description. I think this chapter is one that I really was like 'whatever' with details. Couldn't sit still enough to concentrate, and after that I didn't know what to edit anyway. :/ Was there any point to this chapter? I guess not, but hey, I typed more than 11, 000 words for fun, of course I had to post it.

Yeah I googled and got around the story edit bug that has been going around..

The next upload might be a while because I just got the 411 that my interview for Med school is in two weeks :O and I'm so screwed for it HAHAHA Oh well. Need to prep :D

Anyone has any Kanchi requests? I'm just going to write filler chapters till the epilogue...


	37. Chapter 35

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

Perhaps it was a bit slow of her, but Reiichi only realized how much Japan, or the world in general, loved her boyfriend until she stumbled upon a forum. More than one forum. Actually, to tell the truth, when she typed in his name in the google search engine, she was hell shocked at the number of results that flashed on screen.

_About 20, 300, 000 results (0.11 seconds)_

No, she wasn't doing anything freaky like _stalking_ him on the net, and no, she wasn't ogling his pictures either, because the real thing actually lived right next to her room. Or rather, the real reason she was scrolling past his pictures so fast in a blur was because she was getting paranoid that Lavi would suddenly barge in and catch her face in screen with a Kanda Yuu photograph complete with his signature heated gaze or maybe her face was heating up beyond normal standards and it didn't make her feel comfortable.

In her defense, she had been browsing _Innocence_ past clothing lines and runway collections, and it was inevitable that Kanda was a hot topic on every site. Even in the women's clothing lines, just _somehow_ Kanda's name would appear for fangirly reasons or something. She was getting extremely annoyed at how he was _everywhere_, and in every single comment on every single blog in every single post, there had to be some compliment to his physical attractiveness.

_AH! really cute and hot pics of Kanda-sama! __  
_

_eee! found more hottie and cutie Kanda-sama pics...hehe...most of these are oldie pics but they're still so adorable! hehe...well, here goes! :lol?:_

_*nods nods*__CUTE__and__HOT__at the same time,__Kanda__-__sama__ is so hot i just wanna fly all the way to where he at rite now and just huggles him... lol XD_

_Kanda-sama is such a hottie!...drool...his body is so hot!_

Aside from the fact that Kanda _did_ have a rather nice physique and his face _was_ kind of good looking… fine, she was lying, because she could now grudgingly admit that he was one of the most good looking persons she'd ever met in her life thus far, and she's seen plenty of male models. Still, she tried not to cringe as familiar love declarations filled her screen as she scrolled down to view clothes Kanda had modeled for the _Innocence_ lines in the past.

Then she came across a particular forum that caught her attention with the headline.

_He is my Sin: The seven faces of Kanda-sama_

Reiichi had an inkling that it was their—hers, Lavi and Kanda's—project, and she was right. The thing that uploaded was the very first _Lust_ photoshoot, and Kanda was lying languidly on the bed with suggestive bondage with a stare that sent a shiver down her spine and she licked her dry lips unconsciously. Those pants were a pretty good idea, she mused, noticing how the strip where beige met black on his thighs that drew immediate attention while Kanda ever so subtly placed his thumb right on the edge. Then she paused in horror when she realized she had been staring at the picture for more than a full minute and cleared her throat awkwardly, trying to convince herself that she didn't have a _he's so hot_ thought, but unfortunately, she did.

She immediately pressed the space bar, jumping one page down the website. The comments from his fans that followed left _nothing_ for imagination—and she meant it literally, because it seemed like the general consensus was that Kanda did look, she quote, _absolutely smexy_, he would look better wearing nothing.

Honestly, she didn't really know what to feel considering they were talking about _her_ boyfriend, but then again, she had been hearing the same usual things for years now.

Moving down the pages, Reiichi looked at the outfits she had made for him over the seven weeks, and she was starting to feel quite nostalgic. _Gluttony_—the first time she actually thought he was cute, _Envy_—the first time she actually felt a physical attraction to his bare back, _Sloth_—the first time she thought he was nearly like an elf—beautiful, deadly creatures, _Greed_—the first time she realized she had fallen for him, Wrath—the first time she started to only think about him and nothing else, and then _Pride_—the first time in which he kissed her.

Come to think of it, she could see a general procession in the way she started to like him, and she wondered why she hadn't seen it coming.

_Ahhhhh noooooo y the proj hav to end? _

Well, sometimes, she did wonder if she could design for him again. Well, for the autumn/winter collection that the _Innocence _design team eventually churned out was modeled by him, but it wasn't the same as him wearing the clothes she made specially for him. It was quite funny really, how Kanda managed to bitch the most for the clothing that _she_ had designed—it was like he _knew_ or something—and that was another fitting session she'd never live down, because Lavi thought it was entirely appropriate to tease them both relentlessly in front of the rest of the design team. It didn't really help either when the outfits she measured were the only ones that didn't need any form of correction because she just knew his body size that well.

After seven weeks of making outfits for him and the fact that Kanda always stayed in shape—who could blame her, really?

Soon enough, she was just browsing through the entire forum quickly. She didn't need to read much of them since they were practically just repeats on praises with regards to Kanda, but occasionally, some fans did mention her name and she smiled at those comments that professed their adoration for her works, which was quite a change. Sometimes Lavi's name would get pulled into the mix as well, and it was inevitable that people mused about her relationship with him, but there wasn't anything that greatly offended her at least. At the bottom of the page she was at, she realized that although the seven themes were done, but the number of pages kept going on. Curious, she clicked the link to go to one of the later pages.

She immediately froze when the picture that loaded up was a paparazzi shot right outside their house, with visible silhouette of her and Kanda in his car exiting from the gate.

She should have been prepared for this, she knew she should have. If Kaori, Shizuka and Haruka could collect the entire stack of newspaper clippings about her and Kanda, there was no reason why the net shouldn't be crawling with it. Despite the fact that neither her nor Kanda confirmed their relationship publicly, still, she really should have known.

_Acting as if she's married to Kanda-sama? How daring._

_I HATE KUROSHI__ BECAUSE SHE SNATCH MY KANDA-SAMA WAAAA!_

_Who the fuck do you think you are, hitting on him?_

_Kuroshi, I might actually hate you. You ruined my life and I think if I saw you in person I might actually punch you but I know I would for sure swear at you. _

Her fingers stilled on her mouse, staring at the comments with disbelief. Eyes running over the words quickly, she scrolled down, lips pressed to a taunt line when similar insults kept hurling back into her vision, and it stung.

It stung deeply.

_Kanda-sama 4 ever!~ I hate Kuroshi cuz she sucks and shes such a friking slut! What a whore! She's not even pretty! Anyways…Kanda-sama deserves wayyy better!_

Kanda deserved better? Because she wasn't pretty enough for him? Or was it because she was just lacking in general?

How could they just… _judge_ her like that?

She was biting her lips so hard that the sudden metallic taste on her tongue informed her that she was bleeding. It _hurt_. It really hurt to have people she never met in her life insult her like that, and moreover looking at the number of pages more to go to the end of the thread, clearly a lot of girls thought she wasn't worth Kanda's time.

_You bitch, you think you match Kanda-sama?_

She did wonder sometimes, if people would object to their relationship. Although she didn't really care that he was _Kanda Yuu_, but she knew other people did. Every single time Kanda entered the offices, there would be this sudden hush of awed silence, or when they entered a restaurant, the waitresses would suddenly forget that they had other customers to serve. Or even when he was just walking on the street—heads would just turn, girls would scream, shriek, faint; the usual. But she didn't fall in love with this overhyped image of _Kanda Yuu_, Japan's cold and stoic top model, but _Kanda_, the one who bitched with no restraints, the one who argued with her at times, the one who made a lot of exceptions with regards to her—the one who liked her back.

It wasn't like Lavi objected—much the opposite, really—and neither did Allen, Lenalee, her friends, Komui, any of the head of departments, or the core design team especially Emilia, who was a huge fan of Kanda, objected, but instead teasing them was probably all of their favourite past time.

And so finding this thread that bashed her all because none of them thought she was _worthy_ enough for Kanda….

Her heart clenched tightly, and she slammed her laptop shut, the sound echoing painfully in her quiet room. She stalked over to her bed, flopping down and staring at the ceiling in a bid to squall the sour taste in her mouth. With a frustrated noise she tried to clear her mind, but the hurtful words kept coming back. She wasn't a model, she knew that. She wasn't that pretty, she knew that. She wasn't as sweet or nice or caring, she knew that.

But still.

_Bitch._

_Slut._

_Whore._

_Cunt._

* * *

She didn't get to see Kanda the next morning, because he had been having a series of special location shoots for _Beams _that stretched the entire week. As expected, he was out of the house even before she left her room, and it did feel a little lonely going to work alone.

After paying the cab fare, she stepped out of the vehicle in front of _Innocence_ headquarters, breathing in deeply. Another hectic work day to tackle, but she couldn't deny that she loved her job. Stepping past the glass doors, the heated air immediately warmed her body and she pulled her scarf off, smiling at the receptionist who smiled back in greeting, heading towards the restrooms.

When she stepped in, the entire lavatory was quiet, with only her shoes making clicking noises on the marble floor. Her reflection in the mirror showed that her nose was slightly pink from the winter's air, and her hair was a little messed up from where she pulled her scarf off. Ignoring that, she went ahead to the cubicles first, flicking the latch shut before she handled her business.

She was about to flush the toilet bowl when two footsteps noisily entered the washroom, their voices echoing loudly in the small confined space.

"Kanda-sama isn't coming today," one of them sighed almost tragically, and the sound of gushing water from the taps followed.

"How do you know that?" the other demanded, "It's still early,"

"Has Kanda-sama ever not been early?" was the retort, "Besides I saw Kuroshi come by a taxi alone,"

"Huh," a snort. "Maybe they broke up or something,"

"That's what you wish everyday…."

"Whatever. I hate her so much! I bet they won't last long anyway,"

"It's been three to four months apparently. That's the second longest relationship Kanda-sama has ever been in…actually, how long was he with Lulubell again?"

"Five? Six? Does it matter? Both of them are the same anyway. Using their bodies as leverage…and I actually thought Kuroshi was decent in the beginning,"

"What do you mean? I thought reason why Kanda-sama is paying her attention is because she's related to Lavi-sama!"

"Well, I heard it was because she seduced him or something…Why else was she chosen to do that project in the first place? She doesn't even have a degree, and she's part of the head design team. I mean, really, what other reason?"

"Shut up! Where did you hear that one from?"

"I overheard it from some girls from publicity. It's the most logical reasoning isn't it? She slept with Kanda-sama, and now she's threatening to spill the beans to the media, that's why he's stuck to her beck and call,"

"Oh that _slut_. I don't get it. She isn't even that pretty! And her body isn't like Lulubell's or something. If Kanda-sama couldn't stay with Lulubell, it's highly unlikely he'd stay with her for long. I give them one more month, and Kanda-sama will realize what a waste of time she really is,"

"Nah, I'd say two months, since Lavi-sama is so protective of Kuroshi,"

"Oh come off it. I bet Lavi-sama knows how much a bitch his own cousin really is,"

A giggle and the clicks of heels faded away, signaling that the other two had gone out of the restroom.

Reiichi flushed the toilet, unlocking her door halfheartedly and stumbling out of the cubicle towards the sinks. She stared at the water taps for a minute in silence, mind totally blank and numb as she clenched her fists tightly. Slowly she raised her head to stare at her own reflection in the mirror.

Huh.

Just because she was Lavi's blood relative…

Just because there had to be _no_ other explanation that Kanda would ever be with her unless she whored herself…

"…Reiichi..?"

She jolted suddenly, eyes darting to the sound of the voice in a defensive course of action. Emilia was standing a few steps away from her, looking at her curiously. "What are you doing?" she asked, coming forwards to stand next to her. "Checking yourself out like you want Kanda-sama to?" she grinned teasingly.

"No..I…" she blushed slightly, head turning away to stare depressingly at her fingers gripping the edge of the wink. "No.."

Emilia frowned, placing one hand on her shoulder. "…Are you okay? Usually you're more defensive than this…"

She sighed softly, mustering all she could to smile faintly back at her friend. "I'm…fine," she replied, repeating it firmly once more when Emilia's frowned at her deeper, maybe to convince her own self."I'm fine,"

* * *

Lavi frowned, not understanding why the person he loved most in the world was acting like someone _died_ or something.

"Are you missing Yuu that much?" he grinned, singing the sentence teasingly.

No response.

Okay, something was clearly wrong now. "He's just away from the offices till today, you know? And you see him at night everyday…"

Still no response.

"Rei-chan, are you…okay?"

"…."

"Rei-chan?"

"…."

"REI-CHAN!"

Reiichi nearly toppled over the chair she was sitting on in shock, fist clenched to her heart and breathing heavily. "What?" she demanded, glaring at Lavi for the unwelcomed jolt.

"Are you okay?" Lavi ignored her glare, pulling his chair closer to her to hug her sideways. "You're not eating at all," he gazed at the fried noodles she had been poking rather absently for the past fifteen minutes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she responded dejectedly, knowing that Lavi knew it wasn't _nothing_ if she was acting like this.

Sighing, Lavi pried the chopsticks she was holding and set it on her plate. "Wanna talk about it?" he asked gently, "Is this about Yuu again?"

Reiichi sighed, leaning into her crook of her cousin's neck defeatedly. "I..guess," she mumbled, "Not really. But. I don't know,"

Lavi pressed her closer, eye worriedly scanning her depressed state as he patted her back softly. "He didn't hurt you or anything like that, did he?"

"No, he didn't," she responded.

"Then…?"

It wasn't a bad dream that she awoke from yesterday morning, but instead, very much reality when she flipped open her laptop and saw the website she had gotten pretty upset over the night before. She immediately soured, closing the entire browser with a vengeance and trooped to the bathroom to bathe, only that she kept thinking about the comments online. Clearly his fans did not approve of their relationship—in fact, even though they hadn't even confirmed their relationship to the media, it seemed like everyone just assumed it was the truth.

It never occurred to her that there were even rumours like those she heard yesterday on accident in the restroom circulating in the office. She thought getting through the interview would have at least stopped the preconceived notion that she was in the design team based on her own talent, but unfortunately, blood relations was just too thick to forget. But the worst part of all was that they kept assuming she _slept_ with Kanda to get all her so called privileges, and perhaps it those girls didn't realize it, but they were insulting Kanda that _he_ was loose enough to be swayed so easily with females he slept with.

He wasn't with her because of sex, wasn't he? He had obeyed her wishes on abstaining from that, and he didn't push her for it.

"Lavi…" she began, voice slightly trembling, "….Why do you think Kanda even likes me?"

He paused for a moment. "Why wouldn't he like you?"

"Because—" she stopped, shutting her eyes exasperatedly, swallowing and trying to get rid of the taste in her mouth that soured. "Because there are so many girls out there and…a-and…" she couldn't stop the small tear that escaped the corner of her eye which streaked a painful path down her cheek.

_Bitch._

She never really met people who insulted her so freely, unless you counted Matsumoto. But even then, that was one person.

_Slut._

This time it seemed like the majority of netizens agreed that she was being audacious for even thinking she had a chance with Kanda, and apparently, even people in her own company.

_Whore._

She knew Kanda cared a lot about her. She didn't doubt that. But then she started to wonder why. Why would he care? Was it only because she was Lavi's cousin?

_Cunt._

What could she offer him anyway? Sometimes it seemed like Kanda was the only one giving and treating her in special terms, but what exactly was she of use to him?

In fact…why did he even start to like her in romantic terms?

"Rei-chan…" Lavi whispered softly, thumbing away the tears that started to pour and she tore away from him ashamed, wiping her eyes furiously.

"S-sorry, it's…" she bit her lip when the tears didn't stop, and she cursed herself for being so easily affected by this. "..it's..nothing,"

Her cousin frowned, taking her by the elbow and sliding one arm around her waist, pressing her head into his chest. "You know there's no point lying, Rei-chan," he stated, rubbing her back in circles.

She buried her face miserably into his shirt, arms thrown around his neck to hug him tightly as though the tighter she held him, the pain would go away.

"Don't keep it in, Rei-chan…" Lavi whispered.

"I came across a forum online…and a lot of Kanda's fans…" she mumbled eventually. "They hate me,"

He paused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…Kanda is…Kanda is _Kanda Yuu_ and I'm not…I'm not…" she choked, "I'm not pretty enough… or good enough for him…I don't know…" she bit her lip, "And actually…why would Kanda even like me?"

"Why would he not?" Lavi demanded, incredulous. "I do have a whole long list of answers, but you should ask Yuu this personally, since he doesn't want to tell me…"

It seemed like his answer made her more depressed, because she hugged him tighter to stifle a small sob.

"Rei-chan…" he sighed. "You know all of that is just…_bullshit_," he assured her. "Yuu loves you more than anyone I know, except for myself," he continued, speaking softly to her ear, "He doesn't care what other people think…you know that,"

She nodded absently.

"And you _are_ beautiful, Rei-chan. Yuu can't take his eyes off you, and trust me, I know this," he snorted lightly to himself. "So don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise," he said firmly. "More importantly," Lavi smiled, stroking her cheek gently. "You make him happy," he cupped her face to look at her directly.

"_You_ make him happy," he repeated.

* * *

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~" Lavi whined. "Come on, just listen to me, man!"

Kanda scowled, holding his phone away from his ear as his friend nearly mutilated his hearing abilities. "Will you lower your goddamn voice?" he demanded. "If you're just going to be annoying I'm going to hang up,"

"It's crucial, dude!" the redhead insisted, but the volume went down a little. "Take her out tonight!"

"What the hell for?"

"To cheer her up!" Lavi nearly shouted in his ear again, and this time he sounded incredulous. "Why are you even asking me that question? Haven't you noticed how upset she has been lately?"

"That's why, retard," Kanda rolled his eyes, as if he was an idiot that did not notice. If he didn't know Reiichi hadn't been giving him fake smiles for the past two days, he must have been fucking blind or something, "I'm going to talk to her tonight—"

"Oh no," his friend sounded dire, "You can't do that!"

"Why the fuck not?" Kanda snapped. "If you already know what the fucking hell is wrong with her, then why can't _I_ know—"

"Yuu, you've got to realize that Rei-chan will always love me more than you," the bastard actually sounded _smug_ over the phone.

"Shut the fuck up," he retorted.

"Just sayin', man," Lavi cackled, and then lowered his voice to something more serious. "No, seriously, I don't think Rei-chan would want to say it to your face," he sighed uneasily, and Kanda growled threateningly.

"Usagi…" he hissed, "I'm not fucking around,"

"So am I," Lavi huffed. "Chill. I said she might not want to tell you, but I will,"

Kanda snorted. "Get on with it,"

A length of silence ensued.

"Lavi," Kanda grounded out with much irritation. "If you're not going to talk, I'm just going to ask her myself—"

"Okay! Okay," Lavi scowled. "Just, gimme a moment to phrase it, will you?" A series of tappings sounded and finally his friend sighed heavily. "Your fans hate her,"

"…What?"

"Your fans," Lavi snorted. "Fangirls. Females who want to rape you and have your child," he explained nonchalantly, only anger started to seep into his words thereafter. "They think Rei-chan isn't good enough for you," he continued on when Kanda stayed silent. "They called her a bunch of names, insults, I don't know," he sighed tiresomely, "Rei-chan made me promise not to check it out,"

"How does she know that?"

"Apparently the web is crawling with it," Lavi responded. "Rei-chan wasn't very willing to elaborate, but.."

"But?"

"She cried, Yuu," the redhead whispered.

Kanda didn't reply for a full minute and Lavi almost thought he was hung up upon.

"…Yuu?"

"What?" the model snapped, voice barely concealed with annoyance and anger.

"That's why take her out tonight!"

Kanda sighed tiresomely, running a hand through his hair. "If we step out of the house, some fucking reporter will just tail us—"

"I've got that covered," Lavi cut him off excitedly, "Look, there's this dessert café nearby that has recently opened and—"

"Oh hell no," Kanda protested immediately.

"Dude, just listen!" Lavi tutted. "I've talked to the manager she has agreed to reserve the entire place just for the two of you. That means no one will disturb you guys, and the employees will leave you guys alone too," he related. "So how about it?"

Kanda pressed his lips in a firm line. "You know I fucking hate sweet things right?" he said eventually. "Why can't you do it?"

The redhead huffed. "Why can't _you_ do it?" he asked sarcastically. "I can't believe you aren't even worried about her—"

Kanda growled, clenching his phone so tight he could have cracked it. "Don't you even dare finish that fucking sentence, so just shut the fuck up,"

Lavi nearly stuck out a tongue in retaliation, but that would be quite redundant considering they were talking on the phone. "Just…accompany her there, you hard ass,"

* * *

"We're going out,"

"…Huh?"

"Do I have to repeat myself?"

Reiichi was beyond bewildered when Kanda grabbed his leather jacket from the coat hanger and stalked out towards his garage, and she followed after him obediently after taking her own coat. "Kanda?" she called, watching him walk towards his motorcycle, sticking in the ignition key.

"Hurry up," he grumbled impatiently, and he grabbed a spare helmet nearby and tossed it to her. "Put it on,"

She put it on, still not knowing what he was trying to do. It had been a relatively normal Friday night, and after they had dinner, she had finished washing up the dishes when Kanda suddenly stated his decision. It was very rare that they went out—and it was even rarer that they went out alone _without_ Lavi—because often it brought more trouble to go out than to stay at home. Either way they still spent time together, so she didn't really mind.

"What are you standing there for?" Kanda cocked an eyebrow at her, already sitting on his motorcycle with his helmet on.

It was the first time she noticed Kanda actually using his motorcycle, a sleek silver Harley Davidson, because she hadn't seen him ever ride it, and she actually wondered if he did have a license for that in the first place. It was stupid to doubt that, because Kanda was sitting on it like a seasoned motorist, black jeans tight on his legs and a fitted dark blue shirt on his body under his leather jacket, leather gloves on his hands gripping the handles. Unsurely, she fastened on her helmet and swung her leg over the seat behind him.

"Hold on," Kanda instructed, sliding the visor of his helmet on as he revved the engine.

She placed her hands cautiously on his waist.

He paused, clicking his tongue in slight annoyance. "You're going to fall off the moment we ride," he muttered, grabbing her hands and shoving them forward, wrapping her entire arms around his stomach.

Reiichi squeaked in surprise, blushing hard when she realized she was hugging him tightly from the back, with her entire front leaning on him. His long hair tickled her nose a little, and the faint smell of his shampoo invaded her senses. His back muscles were clearly felt beneath his shirt and jacket, and she stifled a yelp when he suddenly took off, speeding out of their complex and on to the main road. She hugged his waist tighter at certain points when he turned sharply, probably not caring at all for the speed limit at the rate he was riding, feeling his body warmth.

* * *

"You can let go now,"

"Oh," Reiichi opened her eyes, not knowing she had even closed them during the ride. "Right," she quickly let go of him with a guilty blush, trying to scramble out of his motorcycle.

The nightscape had passed by in a blur, and the wind was cold on her skin. It was such a different experience than what she'd be doing at this hour—sitting around at home—that she wished they were going to ride some more.

Kanda smirked slightly at her, taking off his helmet and ran fingers through his inky black hair to ensure that it was all in place. Reiichi snorted when she saw that the top part of his hair was still messed up—and it was funny because his hair never looked messy. Ever. With a slight smile she gestured him closer after she got rid of her helmet, helping him to push the wayward strands in place. She didn't realize how close his face was to hers until her eyes met his and she forgot to breathe with the way he was staring at her. His eyes were boring right into hers, and she started to heat up considerably, unable to break the hypnotizing eye contact.

Then his hand roughly combed through her own hair once, and he snorted. "Helmet hair,"

She scowled, slapping his hand away and neatened her own hair by running through her hair a few times with her hand, trying not to feel annoyed that she got her hopes up again.

"So, where are we?" she asked, scanning the place he had parked his vehicle.

They were in front of a rather quiet row of small shop houses, with a small private carpark that they were standing in. The lights of the corridor in front of the shop houses flickered dimly, but one particular signboard that was lit up brightly caught her eye.

_Sweet Hut Dessert Cafe_

She blinked. He brought her to a dessert café? She was about to ask him when she spotted him strolling towards the said café, leaving her behind. She trotted after him, reaching his side. She tried to look at him, but he blatantly ignored her and walked up to the entrance of the place where two women were standing eagerly at the menu stand.

One of them was dressed in a crisp grey dress shirt and black pants and heels with the name tag 'manager' and the other was a younger girl wearing a waitress uniform. Reiichi did not miss how the younger girl nearly shrieked when she realized _Kanda Yuu _was in their presence, but thankfully the girl managed to control herself when her manager not so subtly pinched her.

"Good evening, Kanda-san," the manager, bowed respectfully when they approached them, "And Kuroshi-san," she smiled warmly at Reiichi who smiled back, surprised that she wasn't being ignored as usual when the model was around. "I'm Hiroka Chizuko, and I am the manager of this café,"

Kanda merely grunted, annoyed that he was actually going through this. He glanced at Reiichi once, noting that she just looked excited at the prospect of eating one of her sweet stuffs and he rolled his eyes, snorting to himself. In his opinion, she looked plenty cheered up already.

The waitress held open the door for them all, standing speechless and basically star struck as Kanda swiftly strode past her, entering the café. Reiichi couldn't stop the annoyance that immediately came watching some other girl checking her boyfriend out, but when the girl turned to beam at her just as brightly, she felt a stab of guilt.

"Kanda-san, Kuroshi-san, the entire place has been reserved for you," the Chizuko was saying as they walked further in the café, "The glass windows have also been tinted such that no one will be able to look in,"

The inside of the café was decorated rather posh, with a parquet floor and fake chandeliers that looked like candles, giving a soft glow to the entire place that was pretty romantic. There were various antique wood pieces around that softened the atmosphere, making it feel quite homely and Reiichi was reminded of Anita's abode. They were led to the center of the entire café where only a table and two comfy chairs stood in the otherwise empty area.

Kanda pulled the chair out and sat nonchalantly, letting the manager's explanation on their privacy go past his unlistening ears. The young waitress pulled the chair out for Reiichi to sit, smiling widely and she blushed in thanks, unused to this kind of treatment because Kanda never did it for her.

"Here are the menu," Chizuko passed them the menu, smiling. "Anytime you are ready to order, Nami-chan will take it. If you need anything, do not hesitate to press the bell," she gestured to a metal device at the side of their table," Enjoy your stay," she bowed, leaving them when the younger waitress came over with a jug of water.

"Good evening, you can call me Nami-chan!" the girl beamed happily, bowing hurriedly once. "I'm your server for tonight, so don't hesitate to ask anything!" she babbled as she filled their cups.

Reiichi nodded, flipping through the menu. She hadn't come here before, so she wasn't sure what the café sold. The menu was quite extensive, and she found herself gazing at the pictures more than actually deciding what to choose.

"Are you going to order or not?" Kanda tapped the table impatiently, scowling. His own menu was left untouched on the table, since he most definitely wasn't going to eat anything from this place.

"I'm thinking," she replied, humming. "Why don't you choose something too?"

He gave her a look that made her feel stupid for even suggesting.

"Like a drink or something," she clarified. "Tea? Or coffee?"

"I don't want anything," he stated, leaning back into the chair to get into a more comfortable position.

Nami looked like she wanted to protest, but she kept her mouth shut and merely continued to beam happily at them both.

"Do you have any recommendations?" Reiichi asked, flipping through the pages. There were just too many things she wanted to try.

"The fruit parfait is really good!" Name burst out excitedly, like she was finally given the opportunity to talk. "The vallina ice cream is a hundred percent homemade, and the fruits are a hundred percent freshly cut! The peach even, we use those really big peaches with lots of juice and its super yummy! We even peel the grapes! And the strawberries are flown all the way from Korea!"

"I…I'll take that," Reiichi smiled.

"Will that be all? Any drinks you would like?"

She paused for a moment, glancing at Kanda's disinterested expression as his eyes flickered around the café's décor. "Actually…what flavors of ice cream do you have?"

"Many many many kinds!" Nami beamed. "We have vallina, chocolate, strawberry, strawberry cheesecake, cookies and cream, butter pecan, ripple, chocolate chip, cherry, watermelon, grape, coffee, lemon, peanut butter, yuzu, red bean, matcha, black sesame, caramel, chocolate mint—" she took a deep breath, "And you can add any toppings you like, from gummy bears, nuts, cookies, chocolate fudge, cereal—you can come to the counter and try them out if you want!" she finished excitedly.

Kanda stared at her oddly, but chose not to comment.

"I'll take a look," Reiichi eventually decided, standing up from her seat.

"Are you sure you won't grow fat if you eat that much?" Kanda raised an eyebrow.

"Weren't you the one who said I would disappear if I didn't eat?" she retorted, frowning at him.

He shrugged, and she followed Nami deeper into the café where the ice cream were stored and displayed.

"What do you have in mind, Kuroshi-san?"

"To tell the truth, it's for Kanda," Reiichi smiled sheepishly. "But he doesn't like sweet things very much…"

"Hmm, then I recommend matcha! If I remember correctly, green tea is Kanda-sama—I mean, Kanda-san's favourite drink!" Nami hurriedly took a small spoon of the said flavor from the chilled display and held it out to her. "Give it a try!"

She took the sample, savouring the taste on her tongue. "Yeah, I think he won't mind this," she smiled. "Thanks,"

"No problem! I'm honoured to be able to serve Kanda-san and you tonight!" Nami quipped happily, clasping her hands together. "I was really surprised when Chizu-san told me you two were coming tonight, so even if today's a night shift I just had to come! You two look really cute together!"

"Uh…thanks,"

"Oh no, I'm keeping you. Go on, take a seat! I'll be with your orders soon!"

Nami grinned at her one more time before bowing, disappearing into the kitchen doors quickly. Reiichi blinked, slightly weirded by the girl's show of enthusiasm, but she let loose a sigh that she didn't know she had been withholding. Nami being Kanda's fan was much obvious the moment she laid eyes on the girl, but the girl didn't seem to mind that Kanda was here on a _date_ with her—

Something just struck her.

She padded back to her seat and sat down dumbly, blinking for a moment.

Kanda had brought her out.

On his own initiative.

_Alone_.

Wasn't this…sort of like a date?

Across her, Kanda was just coolly staring back at her as always, head leaning on his fist lazily and strumming a random tune on the table with his fingers. She met his eyes and blushed under his intense gaze, immediately averting her eyes to drop on her cup of water, inwardly kicking herself for her reaction even though he did it all the time. At the corner of her vision, she knew he was starting to smirk.

As always.

She cleared her throat, squashing down her flusteredness. "Kanda…how did you even find this place?"

Kanda snorted, replying without much thinking. "The usagi told me,"

Reiichi paused, realization sinking. Of course he wouldn't have bothered on his own, but because Lavi egged him to. "Oh," she couldn't help the tone of disappointment slip into her words, "Lavi did, huh…"

Kanda scowled at her reply. "I don't do things just because he asked me to," he stated clearly, staring at her hard in case she didn't get the point.

"Then why did you bring me here?"

Of all questions to ask, she had to ask the most difficult one of all. "Because…" he started off irritably, frowning, "You've been bloody depressing the past two days,"

"I haven't been depressing," she immediately denied, and then she paused, grinning a little. "So if I'm depressing does it mean you'll take me out more?"

"Don't push it woman," he growled, huffing. "It was just getting annoying, that's all,"

Reiichi scanned the empty café once just to be sure they were alone, then smiled softly at him, reaching across the table to touch his hand, slowly entwining their fingers . "Sorry…" she apologized sincerely, gripping his hand tight. "For assuming," he grunted in response, still scowling and she used her other free hand to cover their clasped hands, holding his in both of hers. "And thank you for bringing me here,"

Kanda turned away to pretend he wasn't blushing at her words, and he scoffed, but the effect was slightly ruined at how he didn't pull his hand away. "It's fine,"

* * *

At the backrooms, two girls were trying their best not to scream unrestrained, but unfortunately one couldn't hold her voice in.

"OH MY GOD THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS! SO CUTE! SO CUTE!" Nami gushed, squealing excitedly and shaking her manager and jumping up and down. "IT'S SO CUTE!"

"Hush!" Chizuko tried to pull the girl down to stop her from jumping, but she was also grinning too much. "They'll hear your screams!" she warned, trying to make her calm down.

Nami let out one last small shriek before she breathed in deeply, biting her lip and nodding vigorously. "But it's so cute~!" she whimpered, obviously trying her best.

"Ano, Lavi-san?" Chizuko called, suddenly aware that the person put on speaker phone hadn't said a single thing. "Are you still there?"

There was a long pause and the two girls thought they had lost connection, but then they heard the distinct sound of someone weeping.

"WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" a wail suddenly screamed from the speaker, causing both of the females to clutch their ears. "It's Yuu-chan's first voluntary date…I'm…so proud…." He was clearly unable to continue as sobs only continued his sentence.

"Lavi-san, are you alright?" Chizuko asked worriedly, eyes shifting between the television set that was recording the couple in the café with their security cameras, and the phone next to it set on speaker.

"Yeah, I'm okay," The voice replied, suddenly sounding cheerful as though it wasn't screaming like the world ended just now. "I was just—OH MY GOD REI-CHAN IS HOLDING YUU'S HAND WITH TWO OF HER HANDS! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD WHERE'S MY PHONE I NEED TO TELL LENA-CHAN—"

"I KNOW RIGHT?" Nami squealed, and Chizuko smacked her forehead hoping that their walls were soundproofed.

"HELLO? LENA-CHAN? HUH WHAT DO YOU MEAN LOWER MY VOLUME—oh, sorry, I forgot about your psychotic brother BUT GUESS WHAT?...No, I didn't dye my hair—no, I didn't get fired—no, I didn't—NO!...Look, I'll just hook you up to this three way convo—"

"What three way convo? You're talking to Allen too?"

"Huh? Who are you talking to, Lenalee?"

"Allen-chan?" Lavi sounded surprised. "Why are you on the phone with Lena-chan?"

Allen grumbled. "I could ask you the same thing,"

"Woah, don't be so defensive, buddy. I'm not calling your girl to serenade her or anything—"

"Lenalee is not—"

"Yeah, yeah where have I heard that before, hmmm? But whatever! I've got majorly important news to tell you guys—"

Just then, Nami was unable to keep shut her mouth any longer when she saw that the hottest person in the world started to do something she never thought was possible."OH MY GOD KANDA-SAMA IS BLUSHING! OH MY GOD—"

"NAMI-CHAN! THEY'LL HEAR US!" Chizuko grounded out, shaking her employee to remind her for the millionth time.

"Er…who is that?" Allen asked unsurely, suddenly realizing that there were other people in the conversation.

"Like I said," Lavi huffed. "Anyway, Yuu brought Rei-chan out—"

"WHAT?" Allen's outburst was of clear disbelief. "BAKANDA DID WHAT?"

"You're lying, Lavi. There's no way Kanda-kun would ever—"

"Guys, listen!" Lavi shouted, exasperated. "I'm being totally serious here! See, on the line with us is Chizuko-san and Nami-chan—say hello, ladies—" and the other two chimed their greetings but their attention were still stuck on the screen—"and Chizuko-san is the manager of a dessert café I got Yuu to bring Rei-chan to. Oh by the way, Chizuko-san and Nami-chan, the other young lady on the line is Lenalee Lee—"

"Lee-san!" Nami cut him off excitedly. "I'm a big big big big _BIG_ fan of you and I want to say I think you're really pretty!"

"Ah..Nami-chan, was it?" Lenalee giggled. "Thank you. I'm sure you're a pretty girl yourself too! You can call me Lenalee, I don't mind,"

"Pleasure to meet a model such as yourself, Lee-san," Chizuko smiled.

"Likewise, Chizuko-san,"

"—and Moyashi-chan!"

"My name is Allen," Allen began sweetly. "Don't listen to Lavi, he's on medication today and tends to say things he doesn't mean,"

"I'm _not_ on meds, dude!" Lavi protested, sounding a little affronted. "Chill, man. Chill,"

Chizuko hummed thoughtfully. "Are you…Allen Walker? Son of Marian Cross—"

"That man is not my father!" Allen immediately snapped, then paused. "I-I apologize, Chizuko-san. I did not mean to raise my voice, I assure you," he sighed faintly. "But yes, I am that womanizing man's charge,"

"Walker-san?" Nami blinked, thinking. "The one with the white hair, cool scar and cute smile?"

"A-ahh…I guess?" Allen sounded sheepish at the direct description.

"Okay guys, I think we're wasting too much time on intros here," Lavi cut in, "Lena-chan and Allen-chan, are both of you at a computer now?"

"I'm online," Allen immediately responded.

"I can turn mine on," Lenalee replied. "Why?"

"Well, I've got Chizuko-san to make use of the security cameras in the café and we're watching Yuu's first ever date unfold," Lavi explained, grinning. "Get online, I'll connect you. Okay, Allen-chan, I think you're connected—"

"My god," Allen whispered. "Is Bakanda... Are you sure this is real?"

"What?" Lenalee asked curiously. "What's Kanda-kun doing? Lavi, hurry up! I'm on now—OH MY GOD!" she shrieked. "NII-SAN! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS—"

The sound of a door banged opened. "WHAT IS IT MY PRECIOUS LENALEE? I HEARD YOU SCREAM—IS IT SOME _BOY_ WHO IS—"

"Nii-san! Look!"

"Is that…"

"Is it not the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Lavi demanded, voice haughty with triumph. "I told you Yuu has held her hand before but you guys didn't believe me!"

"Could you blame us?" Allen retorted. "Could you truly blame us?"

"Guys, shush! I can't hear what they're saying!" Lenalee complained. "Chizuko-san, could you turn up the volume?"

The manager took the remote, fumbling with it a little. "I don't think we'll be able to hear if they lower their voices, but—"

"_That girl is taking quite long," Kanda scowled, sipping his cup of water._

"_It's just been a few minutes," Reiichi snorted. "Have more patience,"_

"_Ten minutes," he retorted. "You don't take ten minutes to make one of your stupid sweet things—"_

"Nami-chan!" Chizuko waved at her employee hurriedly. "Their orders!"

Nami's eyes widened. "Oh! I forgot!"

* * *

The moment they heard clicks of someone's footsteps, Reiichi immediately dropped Kanda's hand and Kanda swiped the cup with the hand he was holding hers with, nonchalantly pretending that they weren't doing something couple like.

"Sorry for the wait!" Nami apologized, eyes pleading with so much regret and forgiveness that Reiichi had to wonder what exactly was so unforgiveable about waiting for ordered food, "One fruit parfait and one matcha ice-cream with dark chocolate shavings!" the waitress set the desserts on the table, bowing once more in apology before beaming brightly. "Please enjoy!"

"Thanks," Reiichi smiled, watching curiously at how the younger girl turned away with a bounce in her step and hurried to the backdoor where she disappeared into.

_What's the rush?_

Nonetheless, she turned her attention to the sweet food and pushed the small bowl with the green tea ice cream towards Kanda, noting that he just looked at her blankly.

"Try it," she urged, taking a clean spoon from the small basket on the table and handing it to him, only he didn't take it.

"I thought I said that I don't want anything," he retorted, crossing his arms and leaning back defiantly.

"It's weird to have you staring at me while I eat," she tried to make him take the spoon.

"Why?"

She scowled, not wanting to answer his question. "Oh come on, just trust me on this,"

Kanda raised an eyebrow. "Like the last time?" he snorted. "I nearly got diabetes,"

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't promise you anything the last time,"

"Well, you're not promising me anything now either,"

Reiichi looked at her own dessert which was screaming at her to eat—delicious creamy vallina swirl in the middle of an array of artistically arranged fruits of different colours. She could vaguely pick out kiwi, banana, apples, pears, strawberries, peaches, grapes; and Nami was right—the grapes were _peeled_.

She sniffed. "Since you aren't _man_ enough to eat—"

"Give me that," Kanda growled, swiping the spoon from her as soon as his masculinity was threatened. Honestly, it was too easy to bait him, it wasn't even funny. He dug it into the ball of innocent green ice cream in front of him, staring at it which so much disgust like it was going to kill him.

"It's not poisoned," she felt like she had to assure him, trying to keep her grin in and blinking at him innocently.

"Then why is it in such a weird colour?" he demanded, eyeing the spoon suspiciously.

"It's _matcha_," she stated, sighing. "Just put it in your mouth, will you? It's starting to melt," she groaned when he just continued to glare at the poor dessert. "Kanda, just taste it. If you don't like it, I'll eat the rest, okay?"

"That is, if I don't choke and die over this first," he muttered, reluctantly opening his mouth and shoving the spoon in.

She watched as his lips closed around the spoon, dragging it out slowly—so slow, it felt like she was watching it on slow motion—and how his tongue reached out to lick the spoon almost _sensually_, the way he swallowed and then he licked his own lips, purposely dragging it over his lower lip in a show. It was nearly bordering on _erotic_—until she suddenly realized she was staring and she snapped up to meet his smirk.

"What?" he asked, voice slightly deeper than normal, a smug look on his features.

"N-nothing," she managed, cursing the fact that Kanda loved to play such games with her. It was definitely not the first time. She cleared her throat, hoping that it was merely warm because of the heater and not because she was blushing. Then she stopped, staring at him again, but this time with a look of disbelief.

"You're eating another spoon," she stated, unable to believe it. "You liked it," she grinned, pointing an accusing finger at him.

He merely scoffed, but he pulled the bowl nearer and reached for his third helping. "Che, I just don't waste food,"

"Just admit it," she smiled, watching him start on the ice cream with _his own initiative._ "You actually like this sweet stuff,"

"It's not that sweet," he retorted, then he realized that he was totally contradicting himself in the beginning where he was so adamant that it was. "It's nowhere near the sugar level of yours,"

"Mmm hmm," Reiichi nodded, almost patronizingly, and Kanda regretted even tasting the stupid thing in the first place, because it _really_ was not as sweet as he expected and the cold smooth texture on his tongue coupled with the familiar tang of slight bitterness of the green tea flavor was just to addicting to stop. Oh damn.

"I don't like this," he repeated firmly, eating yet another spoon with a scowl. "I'm just not going to waste my own goddamn money,"

Reiichi ignored him, turning toward her own dessert, since she had been neglecting it for so long. First, a small taste of the vallina—yes, it was just the right sort of sweetness and it melted perfectly in her mouth, and then she picked one of the huge peach slices and bit off a part, savouring the sweet natural juice that immediately filled her mouth, and the faint smell of the fruit just wafting to her nose.

"Can you stop that?"

She opened her eyes that she didn't even know she had closed, because the dessert was really just that good. "Stop what?" she asked curiously, noting that Kanda was looking away slightly uncomfortable, but he was scowling as well.

"Stop making those noises like…like it's fucking delicious or something!"

"But it _is_ really good," she blinked. "You want to try?"

"Hell no," he snorted.

"It's not—"

"—sweet? Che yeah, with you liking it so much, it _is_,"

She huffed. "It's natural sweetness. Sucrose," she speared a grape with a toothpick and held it towards him. "You eat fruits all the time,"

"Not with that white cum on it," he eyed the grape that just had a small smudge of the white ice cream on it like it offended his existence.

"Kanda!" she glared at him. "Never. To. Be. Mentioned. Again," she warned dangerously, and now she herself was staring at the fruit with a lot of reluctance. "This is all your fault. All _your_ fault—"

"Quit bitching," he shrugged. "I'm doing you a favour,"

Reiichi ate the grape anyway in annoyance, poking a piece of apple now, making sure that it didn't have the white substance that offended him so much. "Apple," she shoved it at him. "You eat this often," she pressed on, cutting him off when she saw that he was going to retort, "No vallina ice cream on it. It's pure fruit,"

Kanda grumbled. "Fine," he leaned forward and ate the piece from the toothpick, chewing the crunchy fruit in his mouth slowly, as if he was contemplating.

"It's fine, right?" she raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to say otherwise.

Kanda swallowed, taking a sip of water nonchalantly. "The skin wasn't peeled,"

* * *

"Ahhh! I'm so sorry Kanda-sama!" Nami wailed, hugging her employer by the waist as she sobbed. "I should have peeled the skin! I'm so sorry!"

"Nami-chan, I did remind you to ask them about any special preferences, did I not?" Chizuko reprimanded gently, patting the girl on the head. "But the more important thing is to remember it the next time, okay?"

"Okay," Nami sniffed.

"Nii-san! Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Lenalee demanded, voice rising in volume with every word. "Reiichi fed Kanda-kun! And he ate it from her! It's so so so _so_ cute! Adorable!"

A low cough sounded. "Why yes," Komui sounded like had a hard time believing it himself. "Yes, Kanda did,"

"I'm more surprised that BaKanda's eating _ice cream_," Allen commented blandly. "Ice cream and Kanda just don't mix in the same sentence. It's like how Lavi and mentally sane just don't work out,"

"Oh screw you, Brit," Lavi replied cheerfully. "I told you it's the power of _lurveeeeeee_~" he sang happily, excited that he had witnessed yet another cute moment that will forever be stored in his photographic memory. "You never believed their _intense magnetic attraction_ even existed, did you?"

"Well," Allen snorted. "I never believed Kanda would like anyone more than his sword until four months ago," he huffed, rolling his eyes. "Besides," he added with just a tinge of a smug voice, "I won that bet anyway,"

"What bet?" Lenalee sounded curious.

"Oh, Lavi just thought one of his match make schemes was going to be a success," Allen explained with a slight smile and shake of the head, only, no one could see. "Of course, you know how that ended up,"

The Chinese model started to giggle, and even Komui's snicker was heard.

"What?" Lavi sniffed, offended. "I got them together in the end, didn't I?"

"Uh _no_, you didn't," Allen clicked his tongue. "_I_ was the one who—" then he stopped abruptly, remembering that his ass would be kicked into the next century if he open his mouth any longer.

"You what? Hey, don't leave me hanging there, Allen-chan,"

"Allen just talked to Kanda-kun and—"

"No! Lenalee!" Allen cut her of hurriedly. "He'll kill me if Lavi finds out!"

"If I find out what? Guys! You're leaving me out on all this trippy stuff! Come on, what's going on back there?"

"I don't think Kanda-kun would—"

"No! Please, don't tell him!"

"Tell me!" Lavi demanded.

"No!" Allen denied it vehemently. "I'd rather be alive and not handicapped, thank you very much. Why don't you just ask your BFF yourself?"

"Huh, if Yuu would answer that, tell me why we're stalking him with a security camera watching his totally not private date with Rei-chan?"

Allen paused. "I thought that was because you were just a stalker,"

"Keep it up, Moyashi-chan, and I'll do something _drastic_," Lavi threatened.

"First off," Allen started off irritably. "My name is Allen," he scowled. "And second, uh yeah, I'm listening because _you scare me so much_," he said this so seriously that that the sarcasm was only hit the rest of the people in the conversation a few seconds later. "Not,"

"Harsh,"

* * *

"How was your shoot today?" Reiichi asked, eating her own dessert as Kanda pretended to hate his ice cream.

"Fine, since the annoying usagi wasn't there," he shrugged.

* * *

"WHAT!" Lavi cried indignantly as his three other colleagues burst out laughing. "Yuuuuu~~~~ How could you?"

"Are you sure you're even his _friend_ at all?" Komui asked skeptically, snorting.

"But Yuu treats everyone the same way!" the redhead pouted, sulking. "Even your precious beloved sister—"

"WHAT! LENALEE! YOU NEVER TOLD ME MUCH HOW OF A BRUTE—"

"Nii-san!"

"Lavi…that was on purpose, wasn't it?" Allen asked as Komui started to rant and Lenalee tried to calm him down in the background.

"Well…" Lavi dragged with a hint of remorse. "It's getting a little boring," he whined, as he tapped his screen, with the two people they were all stalking. "They're just talking and I can't hear what's they're saying!"

"Kanda actually holding a decent conversation with someone is already blowing my mind," Allen commented, humming. "And what were you expecting anyway? There's nothing for them to do except to talk,"

"But they do all sorts of lovey dovey stuff at home together!"

"Are you sure you're not talking about someone else?"

"I mean it!"

Allen gave a patronizing chuckle, not wanting to contest further. "Are Chizuko-san and Nami-chan still there?" he asked, because the other two had been silent for quite a long while.

"Yeah, we are," the manager answered. "Nami-chan is just…" she searched around for a word, ".._appreciating_ the view…"

"He's so hot!" the younger sighed dreamingly, staring blatantly at the screen. "He's tons better looking in real life—"

"Hey hey that's my cousin's boyfriend you're talking about!" Lavi pouted.

"But it's the truth!" Nami protested.

"That is true," Lavi conceded. "Like his eyes. I swear, that killer gaze doesn't get captured as beautifully on camera as it does when Yuu looks at you. It's like, he could _kill_ with just one look and I don't get how he does it either—"

"I know right!" Nami agreed enthusiastically. "Oh, and Chizuko-san was telling me how his hair actually looks like it's from a hair commercial and I totally agree—"

At least Chizuko had the decency to flush exasperatedly. "Nami-chan!"

"Exactly!" Lavi carried on unabashed. "You know when Yuu and I were in high school and we bunked in together? Guess what I found out about our very own top model?" he lowered his voice to build the suspense.

"What?" everyone else asked curiously.

"HE USES SOAP!" Lavi burst out, incredulous. "YUU DOESN'T EVEN USE SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER AND HIS HAIR IS SO DAMN PERFECT—"

"Are you serious?" Nami demanded. "But but but Kanda-sama's hair is even better than mine! And I even use conditioner and hair serum everyday!"

"Yeah I'm not even kidding you!" Lavi huffed, obviously wondering why the world was so unfair.

"Well, Kanda-kun does get his hair conditioned quite often since our jobs do require a lot of hairstyling…" Lenalee mused. "But using soap is just so…Kanda-kun, don't you agree?"

Allen snorted. "This is too funny that I'm not even laughing," he commented. "Soap?" he echoed, disbelieving. "And I thought BaKanda had some sort of common sense,"

"You're just jealous because your hair isn't just as pretty as Yuu's," Lavi retorted.

"And look like a girl?" Allen answered easily. "I'll pass,"

* * *

The night went on rather smoothly. Reiichi and Kanda finished off their desserts with privacy, there was no disruptions by Nami nor Chizuko, and Kanda was beginning to think bringing Reiichi here wasn't that bad of an idea, because there was a change of scenery and yet he wasn't being bothered by other people. Not bad indeed. On Reiichi's side, she was smiling at him more tonight, and those weren't the fake half hearted smiles he had been receiving the past two days which was good.

He should consider his mission accomplished.

Then suddenly he noticed her looking down for a second with a slightly dejected eyes and taking a deep breath before smiling at him. "Shall we go?" she asked, since they were both done.

"Not until you tell me what that was for," he said, tapping his finger on the table.

She raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"That…look," he clarified.

"What look?"

He scowled. "I brought you here so that you would stop being so depressing," he snorted. "And you're doing it again," he continued on at her confused look. "Is this about whatever those bitches said about you?"

"Did Lavi tell you?" she asked eventually, and Kanda nodded curtly.

She sighed. "I know I should have told you about it, but I just couldn't bring myself to..." she admitted.

"So what's the big deal?" Kanda crossed his arms. "I don't care about them, and you have no reason to care about them either," he scowled.

"It's just…" she frowned, not liking how the topic suddenly turned into something serious. "Why do you like me?"

Kanda blinked at her for a few seconds, totally not anticipating her question. "…What?"

Reiichi flickered her gaze downwards. "Sometimes I'm just reminded that you're _Kanda Yuu…_ and why would _Kanda Yuu_ like _me_? Why would _Kanda Yuu_ care about _me_?" she explained. "You can have any one you want…and yet…" she sighed. "…Why?"

Was it a question she should have asked him right in the beginning? It was four months already, and by right she shouldn't be doubting his affection for her at all. He had already done so much—perhaps too much in Kanda's context—but yet it she still felt insecure.

For a long while the entire café was silent, with only the whirling of the air conditioner sounding in the room. She chanced a look at Kanda and he just had a rather blank expression on his face. The silence stretched, and it seemed like he wasn't going to answer.

"…Nevermind," she spoke up, smiling and trying to lift the mood. "Let's go back,"

Kanda sighed irritably, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Woman, you…always ask the stupidest questions," he scowled, looking away from her.

"What," she frowned, feeling slightly offended. "How is that stupid?"

He stood up, causing the chair to squeak. He stepped next to her, gesturing impatiently. "Stand up," he commanded.

"…Huh?" Reiichi blinked, not knowing where he was going with this but acceded to his command. "Okay…."

* * *

"They're totally going to kiss!" Lavi half shrieked in his excitement, nearly dropping his phone in the process.

"Ooh! I want to see that!" Nami grinned, clutching her employer enthusiastically, watching the screen with more fervor than ever.

Lenalee merely let out an amused hum, strumming her fingers in anticipation—she preferred to see it happen before she gushed about it—Komui was just merely tons amused at watching his notorious model act in a way he never knew Kanda was even _capable_ of.

"They won't," Allen sounded confident as he proclaimed his verdict, though.

"Why not?" Lavi demanded, his one eye still rapt on his screen. "The atmosphere is totally right, both of them are alone, they don't know we're watching, they've been doing stuff they never let me see," he rattled on, "And Yuu has been staring at Rei-chan in _that_ way since they stepped in the café,"

"I believe he was looking at her in that way even before Kanda-san stepped in the café," Chizuko quipped, and Lavi let out a sound of triumph.

"Valid points," Allen conceded calmly, "But, the café isn't exactly private. They know Nami-chan can walk in anytime. You saw how fast they stopped holding hands even before she left the kitchen,"

Lavi hummed. "I'll bet with you on this, what do you say?"

Allen merely laughed jauntily. "Do you have too much money or something? Because I don't mind if you bet your entire bank account,"

"Why are you so sure about this?" the redhead asked suspiciously.

"Why am I not?" the younger one countered. "Aren't you the one with so little faith in your favourite couple if you're even asking me this?"

"I'll bet you two weeks of food," Lavi declared. "And I know you can eat a lot, punk,"

"Three," the other bargained, grinning. "Of course, unless you aren't confident at all then might as well give up now, yes?"

"Fine, three. If I win though…" Lavi started to smirk. "I want you to model a spread for me, baby,"

"I won't count on it,"

A sharp squeals cut through their banter and both of them hurriedly turned their attention back to the screen.

"OH MY GOD—"

* * *

Reiichi did not expect Kanda to slide an arm around her waist, pulling her forwards so that she was pressed up against him. A pink tint started to colour her face. It was hard to ignore how his fingers curled over her hipbone above her shirt fabric, gripping her side firmly. His other hand pressed her head down to his chest, and she felt his firm muscles beneath his shirt holding her protectively.

"Kanda…?" she trailed off awkwardly, noting that while they were in private, they were still in a public place. Nonetheless, she wrapped her own arms around his waist, hugging him closer and smiling softly at the warmth his body always radiated.

"S-shut up," he huffed, but his voice sounded a little too jittery to be taken seriously. "Just listen,"

She paused, not really understanding his words but she kept quiet, straining her ears to listen for whatever he was talking about. There was the sound of the air conditioning, and perhaps the faint screech of a car from outside, but other than that she could only hear their breathing that was oddly in sync and her heartbeat that was pounding way too fast—

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

His breathing.

His heartbeat.

All of it was in sync with hers.

"Your heartbeat…" she whispered unconsciously, pressing her ear harder against his chest in an attempt to hear it more clearly even if the rhythm was so jarringly obvious now.

_It's just as fast as mine._

It never occurred to her until today that perhaps Kanda was feeling the exact same way she was. She had assumed too much. Assumed that he was more experienced, and therefore did not breathe less when he watched her, did not experience the same tightening of lungs when he touched her, did not have those thrills of electricity that burned his veins every time he kissed her.

Assumed that his heart would never pump so traitorously fast when he held her.

Assumed that he didn't exactly understand what he did to her every day.

"Do you get it now?" he muttered reluctantly and Reiichi opened her eyes, just realizing that she had closed them with the constant rhythm and his warm that was feeling way too comfortable.

She lifted her head to look at him, but he was looking away with a slight scowl and a pink tint to his cheeks. Gently she grazed his jaw line with her hand and turned his face to look back at her, watching his clearly flustered eyes dart around uncomfortably, but it eventually settled back upon her.

She couldn't believe she actually forgot the most obvious thing: there is never any reason needed to love someone.

There was never really a reason for her to like Kanda in the first place, but then, she _did_.

There probably wasn't really a reason for him to like her back anyway, but then,

He _did_.

That was enough.

She knew she was probably blushing all the way to her toes, but she didn't care about that as she beamed sincerely at him, happiness shining from her emerald eyes. Kanda immediately felt his throat run dry at the smile she shot him that practically could have lit up the entire Japan on a blackout day.

"Yeah," she mumbled, still smiling widely, then her cheeks turned redder and she buried her face in his shoulder and bit her lip, feeling too embarrassed to look at him directly any longer. She heard him snort, and most probably rolled his eyes too, but didn't care about that and just hugged him tighter, trying to stop grinning madly.

"Kanda…you're…" she trailed off, just feeling too happy to form a coherent sentence. "Thank you," she eventually settled upon, because Kanda earned it, and so much more.

* * *

"KYAAAAAA~!" Nami was nearly screaming in elation, but she managed to do so while she covered her mouth to prevent her voice from getting too loud.

"Oh, my," was all Chizuko could manage as she cupped her own warming cheeks, grinning.

"OH—"

"MY—"

"GOD—"

"Aww, our Kanda-kun is so cute with Reiichi-kun!" Komui sang as his own sister started to gush heavily in excitement.

There was a loud sob and the sound of Lavi trying to blow his nose before he answered back with his voice slightly nasally. "I can't believe it," he started to babble, "I can't believe Yuu 'Ol boy and my baby cousin are—" he sniffed, "—A-are growing up!"

Allen was just grinning too much, for he discovered that yes, Kanda could be not an asshole at certain times.

"Operation Kanchi date a success!" Lavi punches his fist in the air excitedly. "Yeah! Chizuko-san your café rocks!"

Chizuko chuckled at the compliment, trying to make sure her arm wasn't being suffocated with how her employee was strangling it in her squeals.

"Chizuko-san! They're ringing the bell!" Nami quipped, tugging her manager out of the door excitedly. "I think they want the bill!"

"Okay okay we're going—"

There was a slight commotion as both of them hurried out to attend to the couple they were stalking.

"I believe I won the bet," Allen grinned when the Lenalee and Lavi's squeals died down as they all watched Kanda and Reiichi leave the café. "Not like it was of any question, but well,"

"How the hell do you do it?" Lavi demanded, suddenly sitting up in realization. "Oh shit, now I'm stuck with the bottomless pit for the next three weeks!" he groaned.

"I'm having breakfast with you tomorrow, Lavi. Don't forget, it's a date!" Allen smiled. "Cheers!"

Lavi frowned. "Are you sure you want to miss your date with Lena-chan?" he asked. "Because you—"

"LENALEE WHAT DATE IS HE TALKING ABOUT?" Komui immediately shrieked.

"Nii-san!" Lenalee sighed exasperatedly. "I always eat breakfast with Allen-kun—"

"Oh, sorry, Komui, you didn't know?" Lavi continued, seriously, ignoring Allen's heavy panicked protests. "Allen-chan has been crushing on your sister since forever and just a month ago he got the courage to confess—"

"I DID NO SUCH THING!" Allen cried indignantly, because he was going to be murdered. "LAVI YOU—"

"ALLEN WALKER! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU EVEN LAID EYES ON MY PRECIOUS SISTER YOU FIEND! UNFORGIVABLE! YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED TO—"

"Well, it's late, so I'm gonna go!" Lavi snickered. "Ciao!"

"LAVI! LAVI!" But it seemed like Lavi had ended the conversation conveniently. "LAVI!"

"NEVER AGAIN WILL YOU EAT WITH MY DARLING LENALEE! KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF YOU PERVERT!"

"But Komui-san, I didn't—"

"GET READY, ALLEN WALKER, KOMURIN 23 WILL—"

"Nii-san! I thought you said you stopped making those freaky robots! You lied!"

"But Lenalee! This boy is trying to take your innocence! That is inexcusable!"

"Erm," Allen interjected hurriedly. "I think I hear Cross calling me, bye Lenalee!"

"I WILL NOT FORGET THIS ALLEN WALKER!"

* * *

It was dead quiet when they reached home, and Reiichi reluctantly let go of Kanda and clambered out of motorcycle, smoothening out her hair after she pulled the helmet off. They wordlessly headed back into the house, not bothering to turn the lights on—since it was pretty late and it was an unspoken consensus that it was time to head to bed.

But when they reached the front of his bedroom door, she paused in her steps, biting her lip shyly. "Kanda..."

He looked at her, cocking his head silently.

"Could we…do this again?" she peered at him, twisting her fingers idly trying to squall the rising blush to her face. "I…today…" she cursed herself for stuttering under the pinning gaze, "Thanks," she murmured eventually, smiling bashfully.

He blinked once, and then scoffed, turning his head away. "Just don't order anything for me the next time," he muttered gruffly.

She beamed, knowing that it was a _yes_ in Kanda speak. With a sudden surge of courage, she stepped closer to him, grasping his collar and leaned forward, kissing him on the lips. It was short, but it was sweet and intimate, and the mere contact was just sending tingles down to her toes. She pulled back a few seconds later with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Good night," she whispered soft enough for him to hear, pressing her lips lightly once more against his before she released him and padded back to her room, shooting him a smile before entering it and closing the door with a soft click behind her.

Kanda stood there stone still for a few minutes, unable to comprehend what exactly happened—then he realized he was standing around like a love struck idiot and scowled, trying to ignore the heat emanating from his face.

Perhaps he should bring her out more often.

Perhaps.

* * *

"Lenalee, did you record it down?"

"Already done, Nii-san," Lenalee grinned, taking out a disc from the computer drive. "Just burned it,"

"Good, because I think our head of departments would like an update on our model's love life,"

* * *

**Owari.**

YAY I HAVE BEEN SITTING ON THIS CHAPTER FOR AGES BECAUSE I WAS PREPPING FOR MY INTERVIEWS AND ESSAY TEST FOR MEDICINE AND THEY'RE ALL OVER WHOOOOO! I figured it was time to complete this chapter so here you go~

Two prompts completed:

1. Kanda's fangirls

2. A date

Okay, maybe I cheated on the date part, but honestly, I felt like I was going to kill Kanda if I made him take her out for a whole day HAHAHA

Originally it was just meant for Lavi, Chizuko and Nami to spy on them, but then Lavi had to call Lenalee and I thought it was unfair that Allen was being left out and I'm pretty sure Komui would wonder why his precious girl was screaming her head off in her room.

Is AllenXLena real? I dunno. Maybe, maybe not. Lavi's just sour he lost the bet heh.

Just wanted a little contrast with Kanda's fangirls. I think in any fan base there're always those who support their idol in whatever pairing, and those who think they own their idol. Che, yeah _right_. I had to go search for research material from anti-cafés, except I couldn't really find one lol. The one I'm most familiar with is the Jong Hyun and Shin Se Kyung hoo-hah—and I'm not even a fan of _SHINee_ because I hate the Hallyu wave, but I digress. But man, girls are so bitchy, I can't believe it myself.

One more thing I'm slightly concerned with is how it seems as though Reiichi is _always_ relying on Kanda. Hmm. Might seem slow, but I promise there'll be one chapter somewhere that will prove how much Kanda really needs her. :D


	38. Valentine's Day

**-Imitation Black-**

_~Valentine's Day~_

* * *

_Keisan suru onna no ko_

**A calculating girl and**

_Kitai shiteru otoko no ko_

**A hopeful boy**

_Tokimeikiteru onna no ko_

**An anxious girl and**

_Ki ni shinai furi otoko no ko_

**A boy pretending not to care**

* * *

Lavi absently ran his hand through his messily styled hair and sighed, hand resting on his doorknob to the apartment he shared with the old man for a few seconds of reluctance. It wasn't that he really dreaded the work that awaited him—he liked how the translating and logging helped him to focus and think like in his own quiet time—but he would prefer being with his cousin and best friend any day. Well, it was just one day, he supposed, and he knew the old man had been cutting him a lot of slack recently. Not too sure why, but he welcomed it anyway.

"_Sayonara nante….owari da nante…_

_Uso da to itte…sore…demo…" _

He paused when he heard a familiar voice singing softly in his apartment, blinking in surprise for a few moments.

_"Hodoita te wa…."_

Since the place was super tiny, it didn't take him a few steps to reach the source of the sound, which came from the kitchen.

"_Tsumetaku naru…bokura wa tanin ni naru…"__  
_

Lavi smiled softly to himself, leaning against the opening of the kitchen silently as he watched his cousin sing, earphones plugged in her ears connected to her ipod, body swaying slightly to the beat of the song.

"_Gomen ne nante… mou nakanaide…__  
__Dakishimete shimau kara…"__  
_

She was busying herself with something at the stove and the smell of deliciously melted chocolate and cookies were filling his entire apartment, and his mouth started to water by instinct.

"_Kasaneta omoide ga…itami ni kawaru sono mae ni__  
__Hora saigo wa egao de Say goodbye..."_

He padded slowly behind her, slipping his arms around her waist to hug her stomach, feeling her jump slightly in surprise and an earphone slipped out, blasting out the music she was listening to. He leaned his head on her shoulder, over looking to see what she was doing.

"Hey," he greeted, kissing her slightly on the cheek and she leaned back into his embrace, smiling.

"You scared me for a moment," Reiichi admitted pulling her earphones off and stuffing them in her pocket, but she continued to stir whatever was in the pot in front of her.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously, watching a thick brown substance simmering in the pot, a strong chocolate scent filling his being as he breathed. He reached forwards to try and take a sample of it, but she slapped his hand away.

"Don't use your hand," she chided, but she lifted the spatula she was using to stir and swiped a portion of the chocolate and he licked it from her, humming delighted when the thick sweet taste filled his mouth lovingly.

Reiichi likewise ate some, but unexpectedly she scowled and huffed disappointingly, stirring the rest of the chocolate dejectedly. "It's too sweet again," she muttered to herself.

Lavi paused, suddenly realizing that next to her there were at least five trays of moulds that were being cooled on the counter, each stacked up precariously because his kitchen was extremely small. And next to that was a tray of chocolate chip cookies, freshly baked from the oven that was left open behind them to cool.

Cookies!

Must.

Take.

One—

Unfortunately there was a strong hold on his shirt and he whined, wriggling his fingers in an attempt to reach the cookies. "Rei-chan~" he pouted, almost begging, "I just want one! Please please please please pleaseeeeeeeeee~"

"It's for Bookman-san," she shook her head sternly. "In return for letting me use the kitchen,"

"But it's my kitchen too!" he insisted. "Just one. The old man wouldn't even notice!"

"I am pretty sure he will notice," Reiichi snorted. "He already counted the number of cookies I baked just now when he took the first batch to his room to eat,"

Lavi cursed. "Why didn't you bake me some too?"

"Because Bookman-san said you'd get it all over your papers," she replied, and he frowned harder. "I'll make you some another time, okay?" she smiled, shaking her head at how he immediately hugged her tighter, squeezing the life out of her.

"OH YEAH!" he screeched in victory, voice echoing in the apartment, and then he turned back to the trays of chocolate. "Then what are those for?"

At this Reiichi paused, a blush arising to her cheeks as she stirred the pot with more vigor in her flustered state. "Well…um… I just thought I should give Kanda something…" she mumbled, "…for Valentine's day,"

It took Lavi approximately three seconds for the information to sink in and he whopped loudly, pumping an excited fist in the air. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" he grinned, jumping around the kitchen and waving his arms around, "I'VE GOT TO TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THIS! REI-CHAN LURVESSSS YUUUUUUUUUUU~~"

"LAVI!" she hissed in mortification, face becoming redder as she sighed exasperatedly, then she saw that he was busy whipping out his phone and she quickly turned off the gas before chasing after him to snatch his phone away. "LAVI! GIVE ME YOUR PHONE!"

"NO!" he shouted back gleefully, "YUU HAS TO HEAR THIS!"

"LAVI! NO! NOT KANDA—JUST STOP RUNNING!" she managed to grab the back of his shirt before he slipped out of the kitchen and she bit her lip in nervousness. "It's…meant to be a surprise," she mumbled, turning away to look at the floor. "So don't tell him,"

"Aww, you're so cute!" Lavi sang, crushing her in a big hug as she tried to stop blushing but she was failing miserably. "But can I tell Lena-chan?" he pleaded with an innocent expression. "And Komui and Allen-chan and Kaori and Shizuka and Haruka-chan and—"

"Lavi!" she covered his mouth, scowling heavily. "Just…don't tell anyone,"

"Why not?" he blinked.

"B-because!" she spluttered. "I..It's just…really…embarrassing…and…" she stuttered, then she gave up and groaned, hitting her head against his shoulder. "Oh god, I hate you Kanda. I truly _truly_ hate you—" she complained, burying her face into the crook of his neck to hide.

Lavi chuckled, stroking her hair lightly. "Isn't it already your fifth month with Yuu?" he grinned at how she nodded but she still refused to look at him. "Look, Rei-chan," he started off gently, pulling her away to look at her. "There's nothing wrong in wanting to do something for Yuu…" he smiled at how she blushed darker, unable to lift her eyes off the ground.

"But making him chocolate is just..so.." a grimace came over her features in trying to find a word. "So…_girly_ but I just thought I should try it since I…_like_.." she twisted her fingers idly, "..him and all but..." she continued on dejectedly. "Kanda doesn't even like chocolate…does he…"

"If you made it, Yuu will eat it," Lavi stated firmly. "Even if it's burnt or horrible or too sweet or—" he stopped at the panicked expression his cousin suddenly sported.

"But I've already tried five times—and now six—since this morning!" she cried, pacing around the kitchen. "I'm already running out of ingredients and it just doesn't seem to work no matter how little sugar I put in but if I don't put it in at all then it's too bitter and I don't know what else I can do—"

"Rei-chan," he decided that perhaps he was teasing her way too much this time, considering how hard she was biting her lip in anxiousness and how she was gazing at the ground like she was going to cry out of frustration. "Come on, let's try one more time, okay?" he guided her back to the stove. "Just relax. Yuu isn't going to bitch about—" then he realized that yes, his best friend _would_.

It seemed like Reiichi knew, because she smiled softly to herself. "He will," she muttered, but there was a tender look in her eyes that made Lavi realize how hard his cousin had fallen for his best friend, and it made him slightly jealous to know that it wasn't him anymore who she thought about all the time now.

But somehow, he mused, watching her attempt another round with an expression that warmed his heart over that obviously showed she was thinking of Kanda, that it was okay with him.

* * *

"Why the fuck are we here?" Kanda groaned, crossing his arms defiantly at the entrance, glaring at Lavi who grinned back innocently at him. "You promised me food!"

"And you sound like Allen-chan," Lavi commented, trying to drag his stubborn friend through the open doors in which the door man held open for them, looking at them both uneasily. Or rather, he was faltering underneath the Kanda's dark aura.

"Who's that?"

"Allen?" Lavi blinked, then a slow amused smirk crossed his lips and he whistled. "Shit, you really do forget his name," he laughed, "Mo-ya-shi-chan!"

Kanda scoffed, "I do not sound like the brat," he denied, trying to push Lavi off him. "Since you're obviously wasting my lunch hour, get lost," he scowled, turning away to stomp angrily back to his car, but Lavi was nearly hugging his waist in desperation to get him to stay.

"Come on, man!" the red head whined. "It's a life and death situation!" he insisted.

"Pray tell," Kanda raised an eyebrow, "How does entering a stupid jewelry store have any impact on my life?"

"It's not a stupid jewelry store!" Lavi cried, offended. "It's _Tiffany's_!"

"Uh—yea _no_," Kanda sneered. "I don't fucking care," shrugging Lavi off him roughly and stalking away.

"Yuu!" Lavi yelled after him, but he ignored it.

"Yuu!" the annoying voice continued, each time louder and louder as he walked faster and faster away. "Yuu! Oh Yuuuuuu! Yuu!"

"Don't use my first name, loser!" Kanda shouted back in irritation.

"YUU!" Lavi screamed back at him, and a mischievous glint was shining brightly in his eye.

"What shit are you trying to pull?" Kanda demanded. "Stop screaming my goddamn name!"

"OH MY GOD IT'S KANDA YUU!" Lavi shrieked in a false high falsetto, his voice reaching a sharp pitch and Kanda cringed visibly, covering his ears for protection. "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD KANDA YUU!"

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?" he roared, rubbing his temples in annoyance. "GODDAMIT USAGI!"

"Just giving you a choice," the redhead grinned, turning to enter the store nonchalantly, giving him a back wave. "I'm sure your fangirls would like an autograph," he cocked his head towards the end of the street, shrugging before disappearing into the doors.

Kanda whipped his head at the direction Lavi was gesturing at and froze, eyes already counting at least ten girls hastily looking around, most probably for him. He cursed and hurried back to the entrance, glaring at the doorman with double the intensity before barging in himself, immediately aiming a punch towards the smug grin of his best friend.

"Fuck you," he spat, scowling darker than before and sulking at the entrance.

"You'll thank me later for this," Lavi said, satisfied as he pulled Kanda deeper into the store, and the model reluctantly let himself be led because it was better than going outside.

The marble flooring of the store echoed with every step that they took, and a man who looked to be in his fifties in a black uniform came forward, bowing low. "Welcome," he greeted, smiling warmly. "How may I be of service today?"

"Yeah," Lavi nodded. "Yuu-chan here wants to get an engagement ring—"

"What the fuck!" Kanda turned to shove him so fast, scowling but his face was slightly red, out of embarrassment or anger or both. "I'm not getting a stupid ring!" he stated in aggravation. "In fact I don't even know why the hell you want to come here—"

"Yuu," Lavi tsked as though he was ignorant of something he should know and the shop assistant merely watched both of them quietly, amused. "It's Valentine's day tomorrow! You haven't gotten anything for Rei-chan, have you?" he accused.

"You know I don't care about that shit," Kanda rolled his eyes.

Lavi gave him the most horrified look he ever witnessed. "But but but but but—"

Kanda gave an unimpressed look.

The red head scowled. "You're dating my cousin," he stated dangerously, "And you're not going to give her anything?" he demanded, incredulous. "What the hell is wrong with you? You're the worst boyfriend ever! How could Rei-chan even like you?"

The Japanese snorted. "Yeah, makes me wonder why you set her up with me in the first place,"

Lavi stomped his foot childishly, frowning. "That's not the point!" he huffed. "My point is that you should start treating her like your girlfriend at least once a year!"

"I do treat her like my—" Kanda snarled back, clenching his fist in irritation. "Whatever!" he scowled. "Anyway," he continued, glaring hard at his friend. "Isn't the girl supposed to give the guy something during the stupid mushy holiday?" he demanded. "So why do_ I_ have to do anything?"

"Because you're in a relationship with her, dummy!" Lavi shook Kanda exasperatedly. "You celebrate it _with_ her," he pointed out calmly. "So, just pick a nice ring or necklace or earring," Lavi concluded. "She'll love it!"

"But she doesn't wear jewelry," Kanda stared back at him blankly. "Except the ring you gave her,"

"She will if _you_ give it to her," Lavi rolled his eyes, honestly unable to believe how dense his best friend could be at times.

"Ah, a gift for your beloved," the shop assistant suddenly spoke up with knowing eyes, and both of them jumped, momentarily forgetting that the old man was standing with them all along. "I have just the collection," he gestured them towards the glass displays, opening one and bringing out a velvet tray with a few pieces of jewelry.

"How about this?" the old man dangled a beautiful gold heart necklace in front of them, handling carefully with his gloved hands. "Pure gold of the highest grade. It's been our season's hot favourite,"

"She doesn't like gold," Kanda muttered unconsciously, staring boredly at the rest of the jewelry pieces.

Lavi paused, glancing at Kanda in surprise. "How do you know that?"

Kanda looked back at him in bewilderment. "What?"

The red head blinked once, shaking his head slowly. "Never mind," then he caught sight of a heart shaped keychain. "Hey, that's pretty cute!" he pulled Kanda closer to look at it excitedly.

"This?" the store assistant held it up for them. "The ring is made of titanium, the heart itself is made of white gold," he explained, flipping open the heart from the side to reveal a space wherein a photo could be slotted in.

"Ohhh! You can put your picture in!" Lavi beamed excitedly. "Actually you could get two of those and it can be your couple charm—"

"Why yes, actually this comes in a set—"

"I think you should get this—" Lavi paused, realizing that Kanda wasn't beside him anymore. "Eh, Yuu?" he whipped around, spotting Kanda striding over to another glass display and peering in almost disinterestedly. Lavi smiled softly to himself. "Finally," he sighed, ruffling his hair.

"Shall I go over to assist?" The old man questioned, setting down the keychain.

"No," Lavi shook his head slowly. "Just go over when we're about to leave," he instructed, keeping his voice low. "Let's just pretend you're helping me for now,"

The store assistant smiled, nodding. "Alright, what collection would you like to browse?"

Lavi thought for a moment. "I wasn't kidding about the engagement ring just now," he grinned slyly, glancing at Kanda quickly, beaming back at the old man innocently.

"Of course,"

* * *

_Onegai omoi ga todoku you ni ne_

**I hope my feelings reach you**

_Tottemo kokoro kometa amai no_

**With these sweets that my heart in them**

_Onegai omoi ga todoku to ii na_

**It would be good if my feelings reach you**

_Taiketsu no hi ga kita_

**The day we confront each other is here**

* * *

Valentine 's Day fell on a Saturday. Reiichi didn't really know if that was a blessing or a curse. A blessing because she was saved from witnessing the tons of chocolate or love letters that was sent to Kanda every year (Lavi had laughed too much in his recount to tell her anything more than that) and also from giving the rest of her people in her office obligatory chocolates.

But it was a curse too, because the post man who came in the morning was struggling with the amount of pink wrapped things all for Kanda, and she didn't even want to know how people got his address, and she was the one who lugged it all in the house because Kanda shut himself in the dojo for his usual morning workout. She curiously stared at the bags of gifts, wanting to dump them all away but she figured that it would be quite rude…especially since she knew how much effort it was in making chocolates.

And also, Kanda didn't seem very interested in the holiday anyway, not that she didn't expect it at all, but now looking at the wrapped box that lay on her table, she wondered if she was over doing it. Would it be awkward if she just gave it to him when they were eating? Or should she wait till tonight, right at the last minute? Or maybe…

Reiichi blinked, snapping out of her thoughts as her slick black phone vibrated noisily on her table and she flicked it open.

"SISTAAAAAAAA!" A familiar clear voice sang loudly through the speaker, "GOOD MORNINGGGG!" she smiled holding the phone away from her ear, "Hey—I want to say hello too—oof, Jas! You're stepping on my foot—OW!—I just want the phone—pass it over—NO—"

"Hey guys," she laughed lightly, "I can hear both of you just fine,"

"Mornin'" Debitto's lower husky voice breathed faintly. "Sorry about that," he sounded sheepish.

"It's okay," she smiled. "What can I do for you both this time?"

"I'm hurt, sista," Jasdero whined. "Must you assume we want something from you?"

"Yeah," Debitto chimed in. "We actually came all the way to give _you_ something—"

"Wait," Reiichi paused. "What do you mean you came all the way—"

"We're in front of your house, girl," Jasdero snickered. "And come, quick, before Debs presses the doorbell and your over protective boyfriend will come run—"

"Okay okay don't press it!" she warned, getting up from her table hurriedly, swiping two bags of chocolate (the ones which she deemed too sweet to give Kanda) and heading towards the front door.

Once she put on slippers, she spotted the twins waving to her lazily leaning against the gate. She chuckled at how both of them were wearing their usual dark eyeliner even in their daily wear, plus their stated j-rock ripped jackets, shirts and jeans that were littered with belts. Someday, she wanted to see Kanda wear their style, for once. It would be amusing.

Both of them were standing side by side in a mirror image, with identical Cheshire grins on their faces. "Happy Valentine's day," they smiled, reaching into their jackets to pull out black roses, and Reiichi blinked, a slow smile spreading on her face.

"H-how…" she trailed off, staring curiously at the rose petals that didn't seem dead at all, but yet they were darker than the midnight ink. "It's beautiful…"

"As you are," Debitto grinned, "Sure beats the boring red roses that Tricky Mikky got you, eh?"

"Tricky—Mikk?" she blinked, hands curling around the black roses to accept them. "No, he didn't give me anything,"

"Yet," Jasdero added in, snickering. "Ooh, we weren't supposed to tell!" he anguished dramatically. "I'm so sorry for ruining the nice surprise!"

She shook her head, knowing that it was intended all along. "You guys…" she grinned. "Thanks," she peered at the unique flowers in her hand. "How can this be real?" she murmured, fingering the stem that had its thorns cut.

"It's the same with the blue one we gave you the other time," Debitto quipped.

Her eyebrows furrowed further in confusion. "But blue roses are…impossible,"

"Hey," Jasdero smirked as he cast a glance to his twin. "That's what we are,"

Reiichi beamed in response, handing over her chocolate to them. "For Valentine's day," she nodded.

"This isn't store bought, is it?" Debitto asked, immediately tearing opening his to pop one into his mouth. "Its heart shaped!" he exclaimed, excited. "Oh my godddddddd…." He closed his eyes sucking on the chocolate.

"What?" Reiichi shuffled her feet nervously. "Is it bad? Was it burnt? Or is it—"

"It's so damn good!" Debitto insisted, hands reaching for another one. "Here, Jas, try it!"

"Oh!" Jasdero jumped excitedly as he chewed on the chocolate. "Skin would _love_ this,"

"Hey, I'm not gonna share," Debitto sniffed, holding his bag protectively.

"Well, neither am I," Jasdero huffed.

"I'm glad you guys like it," Reiichi sighed in relief.

"So, you wanna date us one on one or both at the same time?" Debitto asked nonchalantly, chewing on yet another piece of chocolate.

"W-what?"

"Nah, both of us at the same time won't work," Jasdero commented. "Most of the seats in the amusement park are for two people only. I vote for one at a time. And I get to go first,"

"Guys—"

"No way! I'm first. I'm older,"

"Ever heard for giving way big bro?"

"Ever heard of respecting your elders?"

"GUYS!" Reiichi shouted, catching their attention midst their relatively (compared to Kanda's and her cousin's) mild bickering. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Valentine's day chocolate, right?" Debitto held up his bag for emphasis. "We accept. So, where do you want to go for our first date?"

"No no no," she hurriedly corrected. "Those are…" she winced at her own choice of words but there was no choice. "Obligatory…"

The twins looked utterly devastated that she felt sincerely bad for them. "Um, well, I…"

"You don't like us?" they questioned, pouting.

"I do like you guys," she protested, voice trailing, "But...just not in that way…"

"In what way?" Jasdero huffed, seemingly offended. "If you like us, then you like us!"

"No!" she sighed, squirming a little. "It's different from…" to this she looked uncomfortably away, kicking herself inwardly for the reaction even though it was already FIVE months…

"From?" Debitto promoted, throwing another piece of chocolate into his mouth nonchalantly.

"...Kanda…" Reiichi mumbled quickly, heat arising to her face. She cleared her throat awkwardly when the twins merely stared back at her silently for a full minute. "Um, yeah…"

"We know!" the older twin burst out, grinning.

Jasdero cackled, not bothering to smother his laughter at all. "We just wanted to see you blush!"

"Jasdevi!" she groaned, slapping a hand over her reddening face. "Not you guys too!"

"Sorry, couldn't resist!" both of them leaned off her gate, winking at her. "You are much cuter when you do that!" They jumped into the convertible car they had come in, with Debitto in the driver's seat.

"Do what?"

Jasdero called loudly from his place. "Talk about your boyfriend!"

"He's not my—" she immediately protested out of habit, but then she realized that the twins probably knew anyway. "Ugh!"

The twins laughed, waving at her. "We've gotta jet!" Debitto grinned, revving the engine, "See you soon, sista!" both of them gave her a thumbs up before they sped off, leaving her to watch them disappear down the main road.

Reiichi sighed to herself, a small smile on her lips as she fingered the roses they gave her. She stopped in the living for a while, trying to think whether Kanda owned any small vases for her to put the flowers in when the door bell rung and she placed the flowers carefully on the dining room table before checking the intercom.

"I was expecting you," she smiled wryly, looking at the face of the very familiar Portuguese's gold eyes.

Tyki smiled charmingly, giving her a salute. "Waiting for me?" he smirked.

She didn't bother to reply that statement but merely rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Hold on for a moment," she said before going back to her room to take a bag of chocolates, since she had so many left over anyway.

Tyki was leaning against his black car when she came out to the front, smoking a cigarette. Thankfully, he dropped it to the floor and grounded it when he spotted her. "Let me guess," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The twins came,"

"Yeah," she nodded, crossing her arms as she stayed a safe distance away from him, but close enough to hear him.

"They are the most infuriating bunch of idiots I've had the displeasure of actually being related to," Tyki muttered under his breath, but he deceptively smiled back innocently at her. "I'm sure you appreciated their gifts,"

"They were a nice gesture," she admitted. "So, why are you here?" she questioned. "I made it quite clear that I won't take up your offer," she stated, "And I am pretty sure you aren't here to see Kanda…"

Tyki shrugged, pulling out a bouquet of eleven blood red roses from behind him, presenting it to her. "Well, I figured that since your boyfriend wouldn't even think of giving you anything on this special occasion…" he grinned.

"Mikk…" she sighed, smiling uneasily. "I appreciate it but…"

"Too flashy?" Tyki mused, turning the bouquet to examine it.

"Yes," she agreed, "But that's not the point. I just don't think its right to accept it,"

"Ah," the model hummed. "Loyalty to your boyfriend?" he asked, grinning like it didn't bother him at all. "Well, there shouldn't be a problem for you to accept these if this really meant nothing to you," he goaded, pulling out a rose from the bouquet idly and twirling it. "Am I not your friend as well?" he asked holding it out to her.

"A questionable one," she answered, shaking her head at his insistence. But she smiled exasperatedly and took the flower, handing him the chocolates in return. "Thanks for the thought though,"

"Oh?" he lifted the bag up curiously eyeing them. "Are these hand made?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean anything!" she quickly added. "Just making sure,"

"Hmm…" he mused. "That's fine with me," he shrugged, but then he looked back at her, raising an eyebrow. "But are you sure your boyfriend won't mind this?"

Reiichi opened her mouth to answer, but she noticed Tyki's eyes flickering towards something or someone behind her and she froze, a sudden sense of dread filling her lungs and she turned around slowly, meeting the eyes of the furious Japanese standing at the front doorway in his kendo garb and Mugen gripped tightly in his hand.

"….Kanda?" she whispered, slightly afraid of what she knew was about to come.

Kanda ignored her, placing his attention solely at the man outside his gate. "What the fuck are you doing in front of my house?" he snarled, quick strides towards the gate, not caring about shoes and he dangerously flicked the guard of his sword, other hand on the hilt. "Get the fuck out,"

"But I am outside your house," Tyki comment nonchalantly, pocketing one of his hands lazily.

Reiichi frowned, shooting a stern look to the Portuguese because she knew he was just trying to be funny. "Don't provoke him. Please,"

"Another day then, _Reiichi_," the Noah drawled, smirking slightly, opening his car door. "It's lovely for you to call me out specially to give me a Valentine's day gift," he smiled, winking at her before giving a short wave, closing the door after he got in.

"What the fuck—" Reiichi lunged towards Kanda, holding his hand down before he actually drew his sword in anger, and Kanda struggled, trying to shake her hold off and only calmed down when the car disappeared down the road.

They breathed silently for a minute, and Kanda turned to glare at her, lips set into a displeased frown. She could see how his eyes were literally burning with resentment, looking at her with something akin to betrayal or even hurt. She made to say something, but his gaze flickered to the rose she was still holding suddenly, and his scowl got deeper. Wordlessly, he snatched it away from her, storming back into the house whilst crushing the flower mercilessly and heading towards the kitchen.

"…Kanda!" she ran after him, but he steadfastly ignored her. "KANDA! HEY!"

He stopped, turning briefly to look at the flowers Jasdevi gave her, and he grabbed those, clenching his jaw tightly and continued his way.

"What are you doing?" she scrambled after him, but his strides were fast and big. "Wait—the twins gave me those—Kanda!"

Kanda didn't react to her, only to open the dustbin and dumped the three flowers in without a second thought, chucking the lid back on roughly.

"What's wrong with you?" she demanded, grabbing his arm as he barged past her, mood obviously foul.

He merely shot her a glare and shook his arm out of her hold roughly, walking away.

Reiichi bit her lip, grabbing the back of his clothes and refused to let go. "Will you hear me out first?" she breathed calmly, slight frustration already starting to build up.

Kanda paused, and it seemed like he was going to accede to her request, but he whirled around so fast in a sudden, eyes flashing dangerously and she could see that he wasn't angry but _livid_. He placed Mugen against the wall, grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her against the wall beside it, taking one intimidating step forwards.

"Why the hell were you talking with that asshole?" he immediately demanded, voice low and spat with deceptive calm, but it was even scarier than when he raised his voice.

Reiichi faced him as bravely as she could. "He just wanted to give me—"

"And you had to listen to him," he cut her off.

"He knows, Kanda," she stated firmly, meeting his intense gaze. "He knows that I am with you and that I will not date him,"

"Then?" he snarled harshly, the anger in his tone not lifting up at all. "Why the hell did you give that fucking Noah a present then? And _you_ called him out? Is that supposed to mean _nothing_?"

"I didn't call him out!" she sighed exasperatedly. "He was just playing around! And those chocolates were just obligatory!" she explained. "I had some chocolate left over—"

"So you've been giving every other guy out there chocolate?" his gaze hardened. "Even though you belong to _me_," he growled, taking one more step and slamming his hands against the wall next to her and she flinched at the sound, "But you, _again_," he breathed darkly, "had to chat up lover boy and his fucking cousins—"

She stiffened. "I'm not—"

"Why don't you get how much I fucking _hate_ them?" he demanded, clenching his fist tightly. "Why can't you trust me when I fucking tell you to stay away from those fucking Noah and I fucking mean it—"

"We've had this conversation before," she retorted angrily, patience wearing thin.

Kanda eyes grew colder at her words, sliding his fist down the wall. "You know what?" he muttered finally. "Fuck this," he glared at her directly. "I don't fucking care if you want to treat those goddamn assholes as your boy toys or whatever—I'm fucking sick of you not listening to me when I mean it," he stepped away and grabbed Mugen, turning away. "So go do whatever you want," he spat, "Because obviously I'm not what you want,"

He strode away, leaving his words to settle in her ears and she frowned, realizing the real reason why he was being so angry.

"Kanda…" she scowled, stalking after him as he made way back to the dojo. "You are _such_ an idiot," she muttered furiously, loud enough for him to hear. "I like you. _You_," she repeated in case he didn't get the huge blinking neon sign.

"Really?" Kanda glared back at her, grinding his teeth, infuriated. "Could've fooled me,"

"What, you think I've been with you for five months for fun?" she demanded, unable to believe how he doubted her feelings at this point in time.

An unreadable look passed his eyes, and he merely stared back for a few seconds before continuing back down the corridor, leaving her standing gaping at him.

"You are a truly _goddamn_ thick idiot," she hissed, clenching her fists in frustration. "You...you…argh!" Her sound of aggravation merely echoed in the empty walkway. "I didn't even say anything about you throwing those flowers away," she muttered under her breath, storming back to her room, "Because you mean so much more to me than them…"

* * *

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Five.

Si—shit.

One.

Two.

Three.

Five.

Six.

Sev—Fuck this.

Kanda lowered his sword, stopping in his practice swings and breathed deeply, trying to clear his head. When that failed, he gave up and sat down in a cross legged position, willing himself to calm down and not think about Reiichi or that asshole _Noah—_but as soon that he told himself to not think about it, he did and he scowled deeply, irritated that his concentration was breaking consistently.

He punched the floor angrily in retaliation, but that didn't help much. Annoyed, he lay down, staring at the white ceiling and breathing rhythmically, just zoning out.

_I like you. _You_._

When he heard the doorbell ring, he had been in a middle of his kata and that sound already aggravated his nerves because he suddenly forgot the next move. That wasn't much of a problem, because he stilled himself and restarted the series of moves he performed with practiced ease again, body remembering by instinct as he danced across the dojo with his sword with deadly precision. Then it suddenly occurred to him that there was no reason for the doorbell to ring.

Lavi never rang the doorbell, since he had the key. Lenalee and the Moyashi had no reason to visit today—seeing that today was the stupid mushy holiday—Lenalee was probably being caged at home by the overprotective Komui, and the Moyashi, well, he didn't care a fuck about where he went anyway. It wasn't like anyone from office would come, nor would the postman ring the bell—he could dump all the mail he got in the letterbox or outside his gate—and Reiichi hadn't told him any of her friends was coming today either.

It was odd. It was weird. It bugged him so much that he actually stormed out of the dojo just wanting to see who dared to ring his goddamn bell and disturbed his practice, and then he stopped short when he saw Reiichi taking a rose from one person whom irritated him enough by the fact that he _existed_ alone, with a soft smile on her face, and in his disbelief, he saw her give something back to the Noah in return.

Immediately, he felt the blood in his veins burn with annoyance, and then he realized she never gave _him_ anything before.

In the past five months, she never bothered to give him anything.

It wasn't fair, was it? Why was he the one who had to do everything? Why did Lavi keep bugging him, and only _him_, to do things for her or get stuff for her when _she_ didn't?

More importantly on a day wherein Lavi insisted that he should celebrating some stupid moronic disgusting day for _couples_, where in actual fact _she_ was supposed to give him chocolate or something as the customary rule—but she didn't, and instead gave it to that son of a bitch.

Surely that meant _something_.

Why was he, as the official boyfriend, being treated less than someone she insisted was just a friend? In fact, that fucking Noah wasn't even a _friend—_or rather he didn't even get why she talked with him in the first place, seeing that they were all nearly _killed_ because of his stupid family that kept screwing up his life.

Huh. Even _Lulubell_—

Kanda sat up suddenly, scowling even darker than when he first started, picking up Mugen and got into position, letting his emotions course through his being and translate it into a sword dance, swinging it fiercely and cutting through the air, body moving quickly across the wooden floor boards.

_I like you. _You_._

He gripped his sword tighter.

* * *

"Misa-chan…"

"Hmmm?"Azuki Misaki laughed slightly as her husband nuzzled his nose into her neck, breathing ticklish puffs of air and hugging her closer by the waist. "Kazu—stop it!" she giggled, trying to push him away. "You're going to wake Takuya!" she chided, adjusting her hold on their two month old baby who was sleeping soundly in her arms.

Kazuki smiled, brushing a gentle caress across his son's cheek. "Why don't you put him in the cot?" he asked, kissing his wife on the lips. "I've got something planned for you today,"

"Oh? What might that be?" she asked curiously, gazing back into his eyes. "I thought those flowers were your Valentine's day gift,"

"Misa-chan," he shook his head, a low rumble of laughter in his chest. "Has there been a year in which I gave you _just_ flowers?"

"No," she admitted, smiling. "That's true," she gave him a kiss in return, leaning against his shoulder as he pulled her closer. "But we've got Ta-kun with us this year," she grinned at the little boy dozing obliviously. "I don't think I trust any of the rest of our children—" she smiled teasingly, "to watch him—"

"Maa," Kazuki conceded, then paused. "In fact, I'm amazed none of our helpers have barged in yet," he commented. "Usually at this time of day, Hiro-kun would start to cry or—"

The door opened suddenly. "Director!" a young teenage boy grinned happily, panting slightly in what seemed to be haste.

"What is it, Hideki-kun?" Kazuki sat up, asking quickly.

"Kuro-senpai is here!" the boy explained hurriedly, the big smile remained on his face. "She's talking with Masa-senpai and Yuki-senpai—"

"Rei-chan?" Misaki blinked, her lips parted in pleasant surprise. "Are you pulling another one of your pranks?" she asked suspiciously.

"No!" Hideki insisted, face flushing at the accusation. "Kuro-senpai is really here! And she brought chocolates for me!" he proudly declared, flashing a bag of chocolate towards them both.

"Hmm…" Kazuki grinned. "I want some of those too…"

Misaki rolled her eyes, nodding at her husband and both of the boys whooped, ready to head towards where ever the chocolate came from. "Wait," she paused, lowering Takuya into the cot. "Is there someone with Rei-chan?"

"No…" Hideki answered slowly, confused. "Why would she have someone with her?"

Kazuki shared a glance with his wife who gave a look of her own in return. "No reason," she smiled, ruffling Hideki's hair much to his protest. "Let's go, hm?"

* * *

"Masa-kun," Reiichi stared, unable to believe it. "You're taller than me!"

Masa-kun, or Masayuki, scowled, running his hand over his shaved head. "I was always taller than you!" he retorted.

"No, you were always shorter than me," she frowned, lifting her hand to compare her height with his. "Since when did you grow so tall?" she demanded.

"Since he's been secretly drinking milk every night when he thinks no one notices," a girl quipped beside them, amused.

"You took my advice?" Reiichi grinned.

It had been a good decision to visit her orphanage, since she didn't want to stay in the house where she could still feel Kanda's bad mood, and it irritated her to know that he didn't even want to make things right at the moment. She wasn't too sure where Lavi was, after all, Lavi probably thought it was more romantic to leave them alone at home—only that he didn't anticipate them fighting on Valentine's Day.

Huh.

Back to point, she was elated when the first person she spotted was Hideki, a boy who was about three years younger than her. After that Masayuki and Yuki, the other girl, came out to check out the commotion, and she hadn't seen them in ages, after all, the last time she came they were all out at school. The two of them were about a year or so younger than her, but all of them had been pretty close considering they grew up together.

"No, I haven't!" the other denied. "That's a lie!"

"Then tell me why I had to replenish our milk cartons every three days?"

All three of them whipped around to find the director of the orphanage grinning teasingly at them, one arm around Misaki's shoulder whilst Hideki stood next to them.

"Kazu-nii!" Reiichi smiled widely, launching forwards to hug her foster parent by the waist, and he hugged her enthusiastically back.

"Rei-chan, how have you been?" Misaki asked, pulling the girl close for a hug like-wise.

"It's been good," Reiichi smiled softly, then she turned to Hideki who was pouting at her. "I told you I've only got enough for one bag each,"

"But Yuki-senpai can't cook for nuts!" Hideki complained, much to the indignation of the other girl who scowled.

"Why you—" she raised a threatening fist at Hideki.

"And Misaki nee-san is too busy babying Takuya to bake anymore…." He gave the most kicked puppy dog eyes at Reiichi.

Reiichi sighed, digging in her bag to hand him another batch. "Okay okay, but if Hajime-kun or Kaede-chan or Junni-chan complain…"

Hideki grinned, taking his second helping excitedly. "Nah," he clutched the chocolates, rolling his eyes. "They're out on dates," he snorted. "They won't even notice if they didn't get one of your chocolates,"

"Dates, huh," she mused, turning to the Masayuki and Yuki, beside her. "Is that the reason why Takumi-kun isn't here?"

"Yup," Yuki shrugged, "He's been asking this girl out since years ago—wait, you know who I'm talking about right?"

"You mean that same pigtailed girl he's been chasing since middle school?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Apparently she accepted to go out with him recently,"

"That's great," Reiichi smiled. "Sure took her long enough,"

"Speaking of which…" Yuki smirked slyly back at her. "What about you and—hmmphhh!" Kazuki had his hand over the girl's mouth, effectively silencing her while she struggled, yanking the hand off her. "Kazu-nii!" she huffed, "What was that for?"

Kazuki gave her a serious look and she shut up, although not knowing why.

"Let's go bring the younger ones out to meet Rei-chan, okay?" he coughed nervously, ushering the three teenagers away who followed without complaint, sensing that there was something going on.

"Rei-chan…" Misaki wrapped an arm around the girl who was left standing confusedly at the retreating quartet. "Is Kanda-san coming later?"

Reiichi stiffened upon his name. "No…" she answered slowly. "Why would he?"

Misaki cupped her face gently, gazing into her eyes. "Rei-chan," she whispered, and her voice alone made Reiichi feel guilty for some reason. "You should be with him at this moment. Why did you come?"

Reiichi dropped her smile, flickering her gaze to the floor. "There's no reason for me to be with him," she replied.

"No, try that again," Misaki gave her a look that plainly said there wasn't any point in covering anything up.

She sighed, breathing in deeply. "Misaki nee-san…" she stepped forwards, wrapping her around her caretaker's waist. "Am I…" she murmured softly, leaning her head on her shoulder. "…not good enough?

* * *

"Yuu,"

"Oi, Yuu!"

"YUU!"

Lavi shouted in frustration, slamming the dojo door open with a loud bang, but the occupant inside didn't bother to stop in his kata. He watched as his best friend twirled through the air with deadly intent, haori thrown carelessly somewhere at one corner, leaving the model's bare front to glint in the amount of sweat he was exerting himself with.

Kanda wasn't stopping in his workout, and the worst part was that he was wielding _Mugen_, and that made it a lot more dangerous to stop him because the sword was real. Nonetheless, Lavi couldn't waste anymore time, and he just tackled his friend by the waist, sending both of them spiraling onto the floor. Kanda immediately went on the aggressive, yanking him by the collar and slamming him down on the floorboard, Mugen pressed dangerously against his jugular.

Lavi stared back coolly into Kanda's slightly crazed dark eyes, the model breathing harshly without relenting the strong grip he had on Lavi's shirt.

"Are you sane now?" The red head asked, uncapping a water bottle he had been grasping since the start and dumped it over Kanda's head, the liquid drenching his friend's scalp in seconds.

A few quiet seconds passed before Kanda shakily lowered his sword, sitting back on the floor and tried to calm himself down, the water seeping through his hair and droplets started to slide down his body.

"Yo, man," Lavi sat up as if his life hadn't been threatened just now. "How long have you been in here?"

"What time is it now?" Kanda asked, voice raspy, glancing about like he just woke up from whatever trance he was in.

"About three plus," the redhead answered, peering closer at his friend whose face seemed paler than normal. "Shit, you look like you're going to pass out," he ran out before Kanda could retort, returning with a glass of water in his hand.

Kanda gulped it down, rubbing his temples afterward.

"Did you even eat lunch?" Lavi demanded, but he knew the answer was a no, considering his friend looked like he had been doing Kendo for hours continuously without even stopping to take a drink.

"Why are you here?" Kanda asked when he was feeling slightly better, but his head was still dizzy with exhaustion. "If you're looking for Rei then I don't know where the fuck she is—"

"Yuu…" Lavi sighed, gesturing to him to stand up. "Come on, man, forget about that for the moment. You need more water. And food,"

"Whatever," Kanda pushed himself off the ground, stumbling slightly when his vision blackened for a moment, but he trudged towards the kitchen himself, roughly pouring another cup of water and flopped on a chair at the table.

Lavi rummaged through the fridge, grabbing a granola bar and tossing it to him, before sliding into the seat opposite. "I heard about it," he started.

"Why the fuck do you always know everything?" Kanda demanded angrily, tearing the snack open with his teeth, taking a bite. "I'm not in the mood to listen to one of your fucking I should do whatever—because I fucking won't,"

"I'm not here to—"

"—make me apologise?" Kanda snorted. "Yeah right,"

"Yuu," Lavi frowned. "I'm being serious here,"

"So am I," the model scowled in return.

"You should stop letting your jealousy override your train of thought," the redhead commented bluntly, much to the other's displeasure.

"I'm _not_ fucking—"

"The only reason why I'm not punching you for hurting Rei-chan is because you are so jealous that it isn't even funny," the other continued, watching the model bristle nonchalantly. "Yuu, snap out of it, seriously," he frowned. "You know much she likes you,"

"And I don't get anything on this stupid day even though I got her—" Kanda retorted on impulse, shutting up immediately when he realized he was merely saying whatever that had been brewing in his head the past few hours he was lost in kendo. "Che, whatever,"

Lavi didn't reply back, but instead stood up, disappearing into Reiichi's room for a moment, coming out carrying a wrapped box and her trashcan that was full of crushed paper.

"She _did_ get you something," he laid the simple red box tied with a black ribbon right in front of Kanda, who stared at it in shock. "But before that I think you might want to go through this," he pushed the trashcan towards him.

"What's this?"

"Rei-chan's writings," Lavi replied, patting Kanda on the back. "She's at the orphanage, so I'm going over too," he headed out the door waving a backhand wave. "You're invited for dinner, so, see you later, I guess,"

The redhead left just as abruptly as he came, and Kanda cocked his head to the side in confusion, his irritation subsiding the moment he saw the box. He was merely curious now, at what exactly was in it, but the trashcan of crushed paper that Lavi so purposefully shoved at him caught his attention more. He randomly took one of the balls of the paper and smoothed it out; squinting at the writing at was present on it.

_Happy Valentine's Day!_

Was written in Reiichi's obvious handwriting, but the words were cancelled out messily.

Okay…

He took another ball, opening it.

_Hey Kanda, happy Valentine's day! I hope you oh god this is so mushy_

After those words was a frustrated zigzag of her ink. He opened another one.

_Hey, even though you don't like chocolate very much argh this is stupid_

Kanda raised an eyebrow, realizing that the entire dustbin of papers were Reiichi's attempt to write him a message.

_So yeah, I made you some chocolate, hopefully you will eat it…I tried to make it such that it wasn't so sweet…it took me about eight tries and now I've got so much chocolate left over I'm not even sure what to do with the rest…I'm just rambling, aren't I?_

Another.

_I did think of making them matcha flavored, since you don't mind it, but I wasn't exactly sure how to make that_

Another.

_I thought maybe you won't like the chocolate, so when I saw the handphone charm it just reminded me a lot of Mugen and I just thought maybe you'd like it_

Another_. _

_It's been five months right? But you're not that sentimental, I know… but I guess I just want to thank you for the five months…it's been_

Another_._

_I'm sorry, I know I don't do a lot of things for you because_

Another_. _

_When I think about doing something for you I just_

Another_._

_I just hope this isn't too annoying_

Kanda flickered through the messages, reading them despite the heavy scribbles or cancellation or sometimes the paper was ripped or torn roughly, probably out of frustration. The way Reiichi signed off the messages also varied, sometimes writing her name, sometimes blackening out her words, sometimes not even reaching to the end of the message before the paper was discarded.

_Yours Sincerely,_

Another_._

_Always yours_

Another_._

_With Lo_

Another_. _

_I lov_

Finally Kanda came to the last paper, the rest of them opened and chucked on the ever growing pile on the table.

_Hey Kanda,_

_Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you like the chocolates. I tried my best to make them edible in your definition, but I'll keep trying! The phone charm is just something that reminded me of you when I saw it…you don't have to use it if you don't want to. I just thought since I've never really given you anything…it's not that I don't want to give you anything but you don't like a lot of things and I don't want to give you something useless…oh wait the chocolates and phone charm are pretty useless too…sorry… Anyway I hope you don't mind them too much. I—_

The rest of the sentence was coloured over darkly, making it impossible for Kanda to decipher whatever else she had written. He set the empty trashcan down on the floor, turning his attention back to the box and lifted the cover, where a plain piece of paper with the words in black read Happy Valentine's Day. Taking that out, he saw that there were two layers in the box and lifted the first level where four plain dark chocolate heart shapes sat innocently. Below it, he took out a metal keychain in the shape of a katana, the cord wrap also a dark blue, the same as his own sword. The detail on it was astounding, for as someone who wielded a real katana, he could say the miniature version was pretty similar.

Taking one of the chocolates experimentally, he bit it, chewing thoughtfully, then he cringed and coughed, and after much difficulty he swallowed, staring at the half eaten piece.

Still too sweet.

* * *

"Oh come on, Yuki-chan~" Lavi whined, grasping the girl's hand desperately. "Don't break my fragile heart again?" he pleaded.

"Break it!" Masayuki urged, snickering loudly.

"Aren't you gay?" Yuki deadpanned, trying to pull her hand away. "Try again when you're actually asking someone of the right gender,"

Lavi clutched his heart dramatically. "You're like a fire—so hot to touch, yet the rejection burns!" he howled. "Oh it burnssssss!"

Reiichi rolled her eyes, watching them with amusement. "Yuki-chan: 167, Lavi: negative 48,"

"Hey, why do I have negatives?" her cousin pouted.

"Because dude," Masayuki snorted. "Her comebacks might as well earn her double points,"

"It isn't my fault she's asexual or whatever—" Lavi stuck out his tongue childishly.

"I'm not! I already have someone I like!"

"You never told me this!"

"Was there any reason to tell you, Masa-kun?"

"Well, I told you about Saki-chan—"

"Wait! Who's this Saki-chan? Is she cute?"

"Oh, she's just this girl—"

"Yuki-chan!"

Reiichi zoned out, letting their conversation float past her head. They were sitting on the floor in one of the playrooms talking, but she couldn't pay much attention when she was thinking of someone else. She wondered if Kanda would cool down enough by tonight, but then again she didn't feel like seeing him now, especially since he was the one who was acting unreasonably. After so much worrying and anxiously wondering throughout the five months whether she was doing this relationship thing right because she was afraid of losing him, because she liked him more than anyone else she ever did, and he actually _dared_ to think that she didn't—

"Kuro-senpai!" Hideki suddenly shouted her name from somewhere and she jumped in shock. "There's this familiar looking guy who's asking for you!"

"Huh?" she turned around, where the teenager's head popped in at the door. "What familiar looking guy?"

"I dunno, it just seems like I've seen him somewhere before. He's got really long hair and—"

The door creaked open further, and Misaki entered. "It's Kanda-san, Rei-chan,"

"Kanda? As in _Kanda_ _Yuu_?" Yuki suddenly interjected, eyes going wide. "I knew it!" she glanced accusingly at Reiichi once, and then paused. "Oh my god he's here," she muttered. "_Kanda Yuu_ is here? _Kanda_ _Yuu_?"

"So what if Kanda Yuu is here?" Masayuki frowned. "He's just another pretty boy—"

Lavi raised an eyebrow. "You seem to forget that I am BFF with Yuu-chan—"

"Oh my god _Kanda Yuu_—"

"Rei-chan?" Misaki prompted again, causing everyone to fall silent and all pairs of eyes looked at Reiichi.

She was feeling rather torn at the moment. On one hand, she was surprised that Kanda was actually _here_. He came to find her. That in itself was rather touching. But then, she couldn't really forget how he had glared at her this morning.

"I don't want to see him," she sighed eventually.

"Rei-chan…" Lavi looked at her, frowning.

She shook her head. "Really, I don't—"

Heavy steps thudded towards the direction of the room they were in and Kazuki's voice was heard.

"I think you should wait for her to come out—"

"She won't come out," another deeper, familiar voice was heard and Kanda brushed past Misaki and Hideki uncaringly, crossing his arms and scowling at the girl who had her back turned at him.

Yuki blinked in shock, mouth agape, not expecting the sudden appearance of the nationwide famous model.

"Rei," Kanda called, annoyed at she was really ignoring him. "Woman,"

Reiichi scowled to herself, irritated that his annoyance at was also starting to affect her. She stood up, back still turned to him. "Go away,"

"Woman," he growled. "I came to find _you_ and—"

"If you're going to complain then just go home," she muttered, mood steadily plummeting with his aggravated tone.

Kanda set his lips in a firm line for a few moments, noting Lavi discreetly gesturing the other two people she was talking to up and moved away to give them more space. He scrutinized her defiant posture, and then he noticed Lavi was giving him a rather unimpressed look. Sighing eventually, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and scowled deeper, clearly annoyed that he was actually going to do something like an _apology_.

Oh no, the sky must be falling down right this moment.

He reached out, curling his hand around her arm and pulled her towards him, turning her around. She refused to look at him, staring at her side defiantly.

"Look at me," he commanded, but she frowned and lightly pushed his chest, still not meeting his eyes.

"Rei…" he tried again, this time using a softer tone, and he felt her resolve weaken.

"Reiichi,"

She stilled, her heart starting to race the moment her name left his lips. _Reiichi_. It was the first time—first time that he actually called her by her full name, and it felt…nice.

"You…said my full name," she murmured, eyes lifting to meet his, momentarily forgetting her anger.

He looked unhappy that he had to resort to that, but his eyes darted away uncomfortably when she pointed out her observation. His gaze settled back on her, staring intently for a few silent moments before he suddenly crushed his lips against hers.

Kanda held her tightly, one hand cupping her face and the other arm around her waist, pressing her closer almost desperately. He ran his tongue across her lips once, seeking entrance, before kissing her deeply, ignoring the fact that he was kissing her right in front of everyone else who stared openly.

Reiichi's mind blanked the moment his lips touched hers, and she wasn't to blame really, when he was spiking her emotions incredibly fast and hot within her veins, so much that she started to respond on instinct—her arms came to wrap around his neck to pull him closer, wanting to feel him more. The way he attacked her mouth was bordering on passionate, but it wasn't fully, for Kanda took his time at certain points, being almost gentle, like he was apologetic.

When he broke the kiss, he pressed his forehead against hers, never breaking eye contact. He didn't say anything, but merely stared at her. Reiichi breathed heavily, trying to catch her breath, and then she realized they were standing in the playroom when _everyone_ else had been watching—

She looked to the side, but then there was no one else around them. That meant they all had probably left somewhere while they were…um, yeah. But she still blushed hard, knowing that Kanda had done something like that while there were witnesses.

Turning her attention back to the model, she took the opportunity to hug him tightly, leaning on his shoulder. "An apology doesn't work if you don't say anything at all," she commented mildly.

She heard him growl softly. "I'm not apologizing,"

Reiichi rolled her eyes, trying to push him off her for that sentence but he held her, ensuring that she didn't try to escape or something. "Then what are you trying to do?"

"I…I read whatever the hell you were trying to write to me," he muttered gruffly. "And you suck at writing,"

"Since when did I try to write you something?" she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Since your trashcan was full of it,"

It took her about one minute to recall what she had been trying to write—and in the end gave up eventually all for good reason because she couldn't live knowing that she had tried to write him a love note, or something to that effect. "H-how did you…what… oh god…" she murmured, face flushing red in embarrassment. What if she accidently forgot to cancel those_ I like you more than anyone else _sentences?

"And those chocolates or whatever," Kanda continued, "Were too damn sweet—"

"Wait," Reiichi paused, leaning back a little to look at him. "_You_ ate them?" she asked incredulously, because while the aim of giving him those chocolates—then again, Kanda had found them or something—was for him to eat it, but she didn't really expect him to do it out of it own free will.

"Yeah, yeah," he huffed, but it was obvious he was trying to make it seem like not a big deal with the way his cheeks turned pink and how he started to scowl uncomfortably. "I sort of did, so what?"

"Like, all of them?" she pressed curiously.

"_Yes_," he snorted impatiently.

"Really?"

"Tch, yes,"

"You're not lying to make me feel better, are you?"

"Woman…" he growled dangerously, narrowing his eyes.

"Just checking," she laughed lightly, smiling. She leaned forwards and brushed her thumb across his cheek, meeting his eyes shyly before hugging him tightly again. "Thanks…" she mumbled into his shirt.

Kanda gripped her waist tighter, unsure of what to do because his chest felt like it was on fire with the way the warmth had started to spread rapidly in his body, not to mention how ridiculously fast his pulse had started to become, and it was disconcerting to know that his hands were trembling slightly because of all this. He breathed, inhaling her light shampoo scent.

"The miniature Mugen," she spoke up suddenly. "Did you like it?"

He shrugged, and she weakly punched him for that. "Hey, it took me two weeks to find that," she grumbled.

"…I guess," he eventually gave in.

Reiichi beamed at him, stepping back slightly and he released his hold, hands suddenly at a loss of what to do and he tucked them into his jean pockets nonchalantly.

"Why were you so angry anyway?" she questioned, shuffling her feet and tilting her head. "I thought you trusted me around the Noah," she murmured.

"I never said I didn't," he snapped back defensively, grumbling. "Just…" he trailed off, leaving it hanging when he realized it was going to cost him a lot of his pride to admit anything.

"Just…?" she prompted patiently, noting the reluctantly look on his face. "Kanda…I…" she started, ensuring the door of the room they were in was closed before continuing, "I'm with _you_," she smiled softly, touching his arm. "I know you don't like them but Jasdevi are harmless," she explained, "They don't really care about our company rift…and Mikk…he…" she sighed. "I get the feeling that sometimes he doesn't want to be bound to his family—"

"Why are you defending them again?"

"Look," she shook her head exasperatedly. "The bottom line is that I care about you the most, okay?"

"It just pissed me off," he scoffed, crossing his arms. "The way that fucking Noah looks at you—"

"He looks at me normally," she cut in.

"You are fucking blind," he snorted. "He looks at you like he's going to rape you,"

"That is quite a disturbing thought," she grimaced. "But then, you imagine how_ I_ feel when we go somewhere public or even in office," she muttered.

"What?"

"Your adoring fans," she snorted, rolling her eyes. "I _know_ they want to rape you,"

Kanda shrugged. "Can't help it,"

Reiichi narrowed her eyes, hand raised to hit him in retaliation but he caught it nonchalantly. "It was a joke," he stated, huffing.

"Since when did you ever joke?" she demanded in return, but the edges of her mouth were curling slightly in amusement.

The Japanese didn't answer, but instead closed the gap between them for the second time of the day, this time going at it with no restraints—he wanted to feel her more, taste her more, knowing exactly how to make her moan and smirking slightly at the way she was grasping his shirt so hard to prevent herself from melting under his intense action of affection that ensured that yes, they were okay.

A loud cough sounded suddenly and both of them jumped guilty apart, head whipping to the source of the noise which was at the door.

"Still at it?" Lavi grinned, waving jauntily at how both of them flushed visibly. "I would say 'get a room', only that you guys are in one," he cackled. "My bad,"

"Get the fuck out," Kanda growled threateningly, cracking his knuckles, but the effect was ruined with how red his face was.

"Listen," the male redhead continued on as if the model wasn't on the edge to kill him, "If you guys need a bed, you can—"

"LAVI!" Reiichi hissed, eyes widened in mortification. "Don't you dare finish that sentence,"

Her cousin merely grinned back innocently. "I was talking about a more private room with somewhere to sit if you guys want to continue talking," he shrugged, "What were you thinking about?"

"N-nothing!" she denied hurriedly.

"Hmm…Rei-chan…" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively at her and she flushed harder.

"J-just, get out!" she eventually commanded, pointing at the door.

"No need to get so worked up about it," Lavi pouted. "Just wanted to tell you guys that we need you in the kitchen,"

"For what?"

"Well, you see," Lavi scratched his head, "Boss-san apparently booked a candle lit dinner for Misa-nee-san… and they're ditching us to cook dinner on our own…" he particularly looked at Kanda pleadingly.

"I'm a guest," Kanda stated blandly.

"But Yuki-chan burns water—"

"The same can be said for you," Reiichi snorted. "Fine, I'll cook," she agreed, walking out of the door and down the corridor.

Kanda followed after her because there wasn't anything else for him to do anyway.

"So, you guys kissed and made up?" Lavi slung an arm over his best friend's shoulder, both of them trailing after Reiichi.

Kanda shrugged his arm off roughly. "Whatever," he scoffed, but he seemed content or something to that extent.

"What do you guys want to eat—Yuki-chan!" Reiichi yelped the moment she stepped into the kitchen, jumping back slightly. "Put the chopper down!"

"But I'm just going to cut prawns—"

"No no no, put it down," Reiichi advised calmly.

"You'll most likely chop off your hand," Masayuki commented from the side where he was watching with amusement.

"Shut up!" Yuki pointed the chopper at him and scowled, and he held his hands up in surrender.

"Both of you," Reiichi then spotted Hideki sitting on one of the chairs reading a manga boredly, "Three of you," she pointed at the door. "Out,"

"But I want to watch you cook…" Hideki sulked.

"You'll just be a hindrance," Kanda stated, and the younger teenage boy glared at him. The model returned the look with as much feeling.

"Kanda, what do you want to eat?" Reiichi turned to him.

He didn't even have to think. "Soba,"

"Oh come on, Yuu," Lavi whined, jabbing his friend, "Can we eat something that oh, _isn't_ soba?"

"Shut up," Kanda grumbled. "She asked, I answered,"

"Yeah, why did you only ask Yuu?" Lavi sulked, mock glaring at his cousin. "Just because he's your boyfriend and its Valentine's day doesn't mean that you have to cook specially for him—"

Reiichi flushed. "No! He's a guest!" she insisted, scowling.

"Are you sure?" Her cousin teased, smirking. "Or are you just trying to make up an excuse—"

"I'm not!"

"I don't think we have soba noodles," Masayuki commented. "I wouldn't mind soba either though,"

"Aha! So we'll have yakiniku!"

"I don't think we have enough beef. Masa-senapi ate all of it—"

"You punk! So did you!"

"Nuh-uh, you had your third helping—"

"Then what about tempura?"

"I don't think we have tempura flour—"

"Then why were you cutting those prawns?"

"Well, I thought of cooking them teppanyakki style—"

"Only, you'd burn the pan!"

"Oh shut up, you—"

"So what do we have?"

"—no, the one who ate all of the pumpkin was Yuki-chan!"

"No! It wasn't me!"

"Guys, we can't make tempura anyway—"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Kanda shouted, rubbing his temples, in irritation. "You, you, you, you," he pointed at everyone except Reiichi. "Out,"

"What!" all of them protested indignantly.

"_Now_," he growled.

Lavi snorted, crossing his arms. "Fine, since you want to spend more time with Rei-chan," he sulked. "I'm just going to leave you guys alone," he stuck a tongue out childishly at Kanda, sauntering out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, after all they probably haven't kissed enough yet," Masayuki grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and strode out, and Hideki followed behind them also sulking.

Yuki smirked slightly, sending Reiichi a look. "How domestic," she giggled, waving cheerily at Kanda before likewise leaving.

Reiichi watched them go with a raised eyebrow. "Was that really necessary?" she questioned the model.

"Yes," Kanda stated seriously, moving to open the fridge. "It's pathetic of what you have in here," he commented, eyeing the food inside.

"I was serious about you being the guest," she said, shooing Kanda aside and peering in. "Well, I guess I could just use whatever that's left," she hummed, taking out the radish. "Just go and talk with the rest or something first,"

Kanda took it off her hands. "No, you'll over cook it," he reached for the chopping board.

"Kanda, really," she insisted, "You're a guest here,"

"And I cook better than you,"

"That's not the point," she huffed.

"I'm not going to eat something I know could taste better," he ignored her, taking the radish back.

Reiichi watched him cut off the skin with a sharp knife with smooth precision. "Lavi…wasn't wrong, you know," she mumbled, tapping her fingers on the counter, gaze fixed on her hands.

"About what?"

"About…" she swallowed, looking to the side in panic, "cooking for you…"

Kanda set the knife down, turning to glance at how she shuffled her feet uncomfortably, steadfastly ignoring him while her face turned pink. "I don't really care about that," he eventually said, and a small voice in his head echoed _liar_, because he couldn't deny he felt rather happy—content—satisfied—or something.

"You…" Reiichi sighed in slight frustration, and then she noticed him smirking at her. "What?" she questioned quite defensively.

He held out the blade he was holding out to her. "You wanted to cut it or what?"

She huffed, taking the knife and pulling the chopping board in front of her, starting on the radish he had put down. It was fine for the first few seconds—she merely peeled the skin off and was ready to cut it into smaller pieces when she realized Kanda was just standing there gazing at her intently.

"What are you doing?" she asked, starting to become self conscious.

He shrugged, just watching.

"C-can you stop looking at me?" Reiichi turned away, unable to stop a blush from arising.

"You wanted to cook," he merely stated. "So I'm letting you cook,"

"You are annoying," she huffed, shoving the radish back to him. "Fine, do it your way,"

Kanda snorted in amusement, rolling his eyes. Sometimes, she was just too easy.

* * *

"Cheesy," Hideki cringed, shaking his head. "So cheesy, ugh," he pretended to puke in disgust.

"Shush!" Yuki hushed him, trying to get a better view from the doorway of the kitchen. "I can't believe _Kanda Yuu_ is cooking for us! Best day ever," she grinned.

"Are you sure the guy can cook?" Masayuki raised an eyebrow. "He seems like the type to eat at high class restaurants all the time—"

"Of course Yuu-chan can cook!" Lavi exclaimed, affronted. "He's got the hands of a cooking god—"

"Maybe compared to you," Hideki snorted. "He does,"

"Hey!"

"Guys, keep it down!" Yuki reminded them all. "Kanda-san will hear us,"

"I'm quite sure Yuu knows we're stalking the hell out of him," Lavi commented, "It's just that he doesn't want to ruin his alone time with Rei-chan—"

Suddenly Kanda whipped his head around and glared at all of them so hard that they got the shivers. Lavi waved, and Kanda sent him an even more murderous look.

"See," the redhead proclaimed happily. "I told you so,"

* * *

Dinner had been rather….eventful, Reiichi mused, staring out of the car window as Kanda drove them home, leaning into her cousin's embrace in the back seat. Eventually they had settled upon cooking fried rice and radish soup for dinner—because the spread of ingredients in the fridge had been really random—most likely someone forgot to do the grocery shopping for the week, and that led to more bickering within the orphanage on who missed whose chores.

Kanda shut his ears as he ate, steadily ignoring the escalating noise during dinner time—and now he fully understood why Lavi was so noisy while he ate too.

That is, until other people returned to the orphanage from their dates—first had been a girl with chin length black hair called Kaede who walked into the dining room grinning widely, and then for a full ten seconds she gaped openly at Kanda before shrieking the building down.

Then a skinny teenage boy by the name of Hajime around the same age as Hideki entered ten minutes later where Kaede was still hyperventilating—while the rest of them laughed hard and Reiichi shook her head exasperatedly—and he blinked, dropping a pink wrapped box he was holding in shock.

After that, Takumi came in holding the hand of his now girlfriend still with the cute pigtails, and the girlfriend nearly fainted upon seeing _Kanda Yuu_ in the flesh, not that Takumi could say anything, because he was the one who actually fainted.

The best reaction of all was the last one, by Junnichi, a blonde girl with the prettiest features amongst all of them—she greeted them all normally when she walked in, smiling surprised when she saw Reiichi and Lavi at the table, then everyone was wondering why she hadn't made a move to acknowledge Kanda, to this she stopped suddenly.

"You can see him too?" Junnichi demanded, eyes going wide. "I thought I was just hallucinating!" she screamed, covering her mouth in pure distress.

Lavi just grinned, sporting a thumbs up as he recorded all their reactions on his phone camera.

"But but but but but but but—" Junnichi stuttered, backing away slowly. "He's _Kanda_ _Yuu_," she whispered. "_Kanda_ _Yuu_," she emphasized. "Are you sure you guys are not kidding me?"

"I'm his best friend!" Lavi whined loudly, banging his fist on the table. "Why do you guys freak out over Yuu-chan like he's some kind of _god_ or something—"

"Because they think he is," Reiichi muttered underneath her breath, already used to the reactions she saw nearly _daily_.

Kanda, for his part, merely drank his soup.

Reiichi sighed fondly at the group hug they all shared, excluding the grumpy model who waited beside his car, before they left, promising to return again soon, and yes, Kanda might possibly come again. Maybe. Turned out that today wasn't too bad at all.

"Wait—" Lavi shouted abruptly, jolting her out of her day dream. "WAIT! STOP THE CAR! STOP IT!" he sat up, gripping Kanda's shoulder from the back and the car screeched to a stop.

"What the hell is it now?" Kanda demanded angrily, glancing at the rear view mirror and was extremely thankful the road they were on was empty. "Are you trying to kill us?

The male redhead looked serious. "Rei-chan, get out of the car," he nudged her lightly.

"Huh?" she blinked in confusion. "But we're in the middle of the road—"

"Come on, it's dire!" he insisted, hastily unbuckling is seat belt and scrambling out of the car. "Quick, get out!"

"Okay…" she slowly followed his actions.

"Yuu, you too!" Lavi was already over at the driver's seat car door tugging on it. "Hurry up, some car is going to come and you're in the middle of the street—"

"Whose fucking fault is that?" Kanda retorted, narrowing his eyes. "What shit are you trying to pull?"

"Nothing!" Lavi frowned, tapping on his door impatiently. "Come on, get out of the seat! I mean it!"

"Usagi…" Kanda growled, but reluctantly stepped out, crossing his arms. "So, what is—"

Lavi shoved Kanda aside in a quick motion, slipping into the driver's seat quickly and slamming the door before the model finished his sentence.

"Fuck!" the Japanese cursed, immediately tugging on his car door to no avail when the doors were locked shut with a click. "You get the fuck out of my car—"

A slow smirk started to grow on Lavi's mouth, and he rolled down the window gazing at them lazily.

"Lavi…" Reiichi shook her head. "What is it this time?" she sighed in frustration. "I thought it was something important!"

"It is something important," her cousin grinned, swatting Kanda's hands that were trying to strangle him with the seatbelt. "You have something to give to Rei-chan, don't you?" he pointedly looked at Kanda who stilled.

"I—"

"I'll see you kids at home!" Lavi blew a kiss to them both. "Curfew is at ten!"

"Lavi, what—"

The male redhead merely laughed, waving as he stepped on the accelerator. "Bye!"

"Um, okay…" Reiichi watched her cousin drive off uncomprehendingly.

Taking a look around, they were standing like a bunch of homeless people in the middle of the road, so they hastily headed for the pavement. The night air was cool and it was quiet, and she spotted the park that was near their home right across the other side of the road. There were about one or two couples cuddling on the benches in the park, but otherwise, they were alone.

She turned to Kanda awkwardly. "I guess we'll walk back…?" she trailed off, not knowing why they were suddenly made to walk back.

Kanda caught her arm before she took a step, and she turned to him questioningly. "It is this way, isn't it?"

"No, not that," The model coughed uncomfortably, digging into his pocket before almost shoving a small box into her hands. "Here," he stated gruffly.

"Oh," Reiichi blinked, suddenly unsure as of what to do with his abrupt gift. "Thanks…" she stared at the white box for a while. "Do I open it?" she asked after a while when awkward silence started to stretch.

"Whatever," Kanda crossed his arms, turning away pointedly not looking at her.

Reiichi lifted the cover, peering at a silver curl that sat neatly in the middle of the box. She picked it up, letting the silver chain run loose over her fingers.

"It's to replace that," Kanda eventually said, looking at the black rope choker that held the ring that Lavi gave her.

She scrutinized the silver chain necklace that he gave her—it was simple, and quite understated really, but the words _Tiffany and Co_. on the velvet inside the box told her how expensive the chain could have cost. It shimmered softly under the moonlight, and it brought to her attention a small _K_ carving at the back of the clasp—his name or hers, she didn't know, but it was perfect.

Kanda didn't give her something big or flashy because he knew she wouldn't wear it often, and definitely, it would draw more media attention to them—but giving her a simple chain instead that he knew she would use, and definitely now had _meaning_—was kind of sweet.

"Thank you…" she repeated again, beaming at him, closing the box.

Kanda coughed again, turning away to walk. She followed him quickly, grinning at how she knew he was being embarrassed, because it was kind of cute how he strode forwards determinedly without looking at her once.

They walked together for a few steps in silence, keeping the normal distance between them before Reiichi slipped her hand into his, fingers curling between his and grasping his palm tightly. Immediately she blushed as she always did upon hand to hand contact, and he didn't seem to move his hand away, but instead his fingers slowly returned the grip. Kanda gave a paranoid glance around their vicinity and he relaxed when he was convinced no one was stalking them at this time at night.

"Our house is the other way, isn't it?" Reiichi spoke up after a while.

Kanda grunted.

She smiled and gripped his hand tighter.

* * *

"Happy Valentine's Day, Kanda,"

"Hm,"

"…."

"….What?"

Sigh. "Nevermind,"

* * *

**Owari.**

DID I MAKE KANDA OOC? ;_; I wanted to write more in Kanda's POV but then I felt like I was going to kill his character because he acts like a douche but I think his traitorous thoughts will annihilate his image.

Okay. I've been procrastinating writing this chapter because of a lack of plot bunnies, and I think instead of going with a cute awkward Valentine's day with usual Lavi meddling, I went for a real fight as a couple…with usual Lavi meddling. :/ I feel like I keep reusing ideas arghhhhh

I did toy with the idea of Lavi trying to be funny and tying and gagging Kanda to his bed to leave Reiichi to find him there as a present, but I figured it'd be quite a harsh blow to Kanda's ego *pat pat* I shall not torture you so :D

I think I've written enough about how much Reiichi wants Kanda to do things, but I believe deep down even if Kanda hates PDA or romantic notions he still wants it from Reiichi. And that Kanda can be insecure at times.

Yes, Kazuki and Misaki's kid's name is Kimura Takuya ;D /bricked

The insert song is _Chocolate Disco_ by **Perfume**, and the song Reiichi was singing in the beginning is _Loveless_ by **Yamashita** **Tomohisa**.

The next chapter will be one that I've been planning to write for a long time yay. It's going to be EMO. :D


	39. Chapter 36

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

_It was spring._

_A lone petal floated gently in the breeze, a faded pink smudge in the air drifting slowly down. It was a melancholic sight as the petal touched the moss covered rock of the pond, sliding gently onto the water's surface. It was alone, away from the others which were still proudly blooming upon the sakura trees._

_It was broken off._

_It was him._

_He was peeking from behind the sliding doors through a hole made in the rice paper. His legs were numb from the kneeling, but there wasn't much choice, considering the soles of his feet were burning with pain. It was ironic, but staring at the serene garden made him feel worse, because he wasn't allowed to touch the invitingly green grass that called out to him. Then again, he wasn't even able to move much from his position._

_It was his fault._

_He wasn't allowed to leave the room unless he was called out, but he did. He wanted to see what was going on outside, when he heard the thumping of footsteps outside his room. The sounds lasted continuously for an hour, which was unusual, because oba-san hated noise. Curiosity had finally won over, and he lightly pushed the sliding door open._

_Unfortunately the door was slightly stuck since it was shut all the time, and he ended up using more force as he tugged it desperately open. He didn't mean for his grip to slip. He didn't mean for his hand to steady himself. He didn't mean to tear a hole in the rice paper door. _

_For a whole minute he stared at the hole in horror, already anticipating what was to come. _

"_Brat,"_

_He snapped his head up in panic to the voice that hissed with hatred, hands trembling by his sides. But there was nothing he could do._

_If he apologized, more cruel words would come._

_If he begged for forgiveness, the beatings got harder._

_If he kept silent, he was starved for a day._

_That silent stern face with sharp features of a mature lady glowered at him, and he took a step back in fear._

"_You dare defy me again?" She snarled, one hand grabbing the long train of her traditional kimono, stepping closer to him._

_He shook his head wildly, landing painfully on his behind as he stumbled over his own feet in haste._

_She didn't care much for his response, but merely swiped a long thin cane that was placed on the top of a cabinet especially for his use as she entered the bare room. _

_He cried as fresh new marks were made on the soles of his feet again. He cried as bright red blood stained the wooden boards. He cried as it was his entire fault again._

_Because there was nothing else he could do._

"…Kanda-san?"

He blinked, startled.

"Kanda-san? Are you listening?" A face peered closer towards him and he scowled, pushing whoever it was further away from his personal space.

"Yes," he rolled his eyes, huffing. "Just do like the usual, isn't it?"

"This is _Aston_ _Blake_," the man who had cropped platinum silver hair replied, affronted, but Kanda was too busy judging him to actually listen. "We're not some run of the mill fashion company—and we certainly don't want your _usual_," the Aston Blake representative continued, placing a hand on the hip that was clad with tight leather—yes, he was so definitely gay in Kanda's opinion, "We want your sexy—"

"Stop," Kanda commanded, silencing the other before disturbing words that shouldn't come out of a man's mouth especially when it was with regards to him.

"I think you don't get what I'm trying to say, Kanda-san," the representative tutted, tapping on some file he was holding impatiently. "You and your incredible face shall be the one that leads _Aston Blake_ into the Japanese market—"

But Kanda was already sauntering to the set, ignoring whatever the man was trying to say. "Usagi," he snapped, catching the attention of Lavi who was lounging on a metal chair flipping through a magazine like it was actually comfortable.

Lavi shot him a smirk, shooting obvious eyes to the representative and waggling his eyebrows. Kanda yanked the tie he was wearing in irritation, hoping that the stupid shoot could be over and done with.

"So, what's it gonna be today?" the photographer asked, picking up his camera.

"Like I was saying—" the representative started.

"The usual," Kanda cut him off, annoyance setting in his tone.

"Kanda-san, you don't understand—"

"Right!" Lavi chirped brightly. "Ultimate sexy, give me your come hither face! Starting in one, two—whoops, I just took a picture!" he grinned, waving.

"Fuck, can't you just wait?" The model demanded, getting into position in front of the blank white screen.

At the side, the _Aston Blake_ representive pouted, slumping on one of the metal chairs in exasperation. It seemed like the industry rumours were true—that Kanda Yuu was incredibly _hot_, especially in a black sharp suit and yellow skinny tie, and even _sexier_ in spectacles—the black frame contoured his delicately framed face just about in sophisticated refinedness—and also that the famous duo of Lavi Bookman and Kanda Yuu tended to do things their own way.

"Yess…oh baby, oh yesss…" Lavi crooned quite disturbingly from his position, and Kanda nearly shredded the tie in aggravation.

"Stop with the goddamn noises!" the model shouted, but amazingly the click of the camera right at the last syllable still came out looking picture perfect.

"But Yuu," the red head whined, licking his lips, "You like hearing them from Rei-chan—"

The horror that was expressed on Kanda's face could've won first prize at a 'what the fuck' competition.

"What?" Lavi actually lowered his camera for the moment.

Kanda coughed, and then coughed some more like he was going to die.

"Wait," the other paused. "Don't tell me it's actually true—oh my god what have you guys done? " the excited cousin of his girlfriend skipped giddily in the air. "How far have you guys gotten? Past third base? Are you serious?"

"Nowhere," the Japanese snapped, apparently ceasing in the coughs. "You think she sounds like a fucking pig on the verse of asphyxiation which you just did," he sneered, "I'm telling her that,"

"What—no!" Lavi denied and then his face relaxed into a teasing smirk. "But then, you didn't deny it either,"

"Deny what?

"That you—"

The representative stood up suddenly, and the metal chair screeched loudly. "I don't care if you are the hottest sensation right now," he frowned at both of them, stalking towards the set. "Bookman-san, Kanda-san, I expected more modeling, and less, ah, playing around—"

"Blame that fucking rabbit," Kanda spat, turning to glare at his photographer. "You tell him to shut up first,"

"Relax," Lavi waved a hand for the representative to come over, and with slight hesitation, he complied. "See? We've already started," he slung an arm over the man and shoved his camera screen in his face, pressing the next button.

Apparently the renowned photographer wasn't lying, for at least thirty shots had already been taken amidst the arguing of the duo. But it didn't look like model had been yelling at the redhead for the past five minutes. There were shots where it seemed as though the Japanese was focusing his trademark burning gaze right into the soul of the viewer, a hand strategically placed on the edge of his front, or sometimes curled around the knot of the tie, or toying with the side of his spectacles—it somehow made the temperature in the basement up in degrees even though they were just pictures.

Lavi glanced at Kanda who snorted and crossed his arms, but at the corner of his lips there was a small smirk. He tapped his foot impatiently. "Can we continue now?" he demanded.

The representative blinked, nodding slowly. "Y-yes,"

But of course.

He was _Kanda Yuu._

* * *

"I say, keep the spectacles," Lavi nodded slowly, a grin decorating his features.

"What for?" Kanda growled, trying to strip his clothes in peace in the changing room, but unfortunately there always had to be some form of annoyance butting in his personal space. "I have fucking perfect vision—"

"Visuals! Visuals!" the redhead cried, watching his friend nearly rip the buttons of the white shirt he had on while undressing.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Kanda concluded, successfully getting rid of his shirt and pulling on a black tank top. He fiddled with the button on his pants, and then paused. "Why are you watching me like some goddamn pervert?" he snapped. "Get the hell out!"

"It's not like I haven't seen everything already," Lavi huffed, refusing to budge from his position.

Kanda scowled, but stripped anyway, pulling on his dark orange berms after. "Fuck," he breathed, fanning himself. "It's too damn hot," he complained, letting loose his hair and retying his ponytail.

"All thanks to me, of course," Lavi winked—or blinked—whatever. "But I've got to agree with you that the heat has been too damn wicked—and it's only the beginning of summer!"

The Japanese only took the clothes he was wearing for the shoot and threw it at his best friend unceremoniously. The redhead dodged, allowing the clothes to land in the laundry basket he was standing in front of.

"Seriously, Yuu," Lavi started again, grabbing the fake pair of frames placed on the dressing table and shoving it on Kanda's face. "Just keep this on,"

"What the—fuck, stop that!" Kanda slapped his hands away, adjusting the glasses on his face although he wasn't quite sure why. "It feels damn uncomfortable," he commented, immediately reaching to take them off, and for a moment he wondered why he didn't just break the damned thing now.

"No no no!" the redhead insisted frantically. "Just keep it on till Rei-chan comes,"

"…Why?" he asked suspiciously, squinting an eye at the other.

"She has some sort of fetish with spectacles," Lavi admitted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I just wanna see her face when she sees you later," a creepy grin resided on his face. "It would be better if you kept that suit on though—"

"No fucking way," Kanda immediately denied. "I was boiling in that thing—are you sure the air conditioning is working?"

"It's already set at 18 degrees Celsius," Lavi replied, frowning. "Something is wrong with _you_, most likely,"

Kanda scoffed, not bothering to grace him with a retort. He walked out of the changing room, brushing past the rest of the lighting crew who were busy dismantling the lights of the set, past the representative who was browsing through his photographs—his job was done anyway—and headed for his personal room when Lavi grabbed his arm.

"Ne, Yuu-chan,"

"What," The Japanese narrowed his eye dangerously. "Cut out that stupid suffix!"

"I wanna talk a little," the redhead replied, cocking his head.

"Later," Kanda grumbled, reaching to open his door.

"Rei-chan will come in ten minutes time and after lunch we've got another shoot," Lavi explained, tugging him. "Come on, it'll be quick,"

Kanda raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Fine, I promise I'll get to the point," The redhead conceded. "Ten minutes till Rei-chan comes, remember?"

The model scowled but nodded. They headed towards the relax room and Kanda immediately flopped on the bed, rubbing his temples. Lavi closed the door behind them, opting to sit on the couch instead. A few seconds of silence reigned before Kanda growled impatiently.

"Is something bothering you?" Lavi asked bluntly.

The model turned to look at him slowly.

The red head sighed. "I know you like to keep it all in," he started, a tense atmosphere starting to build the room, "But I feel like there's something _off_ about you," he confessed, staring at the other's face.

"It's probably _you_," Kanda retorted. "Are we done?"

"No," Lavi scowled, clicking his tongue. "I'm worried, if you can't tell," he added in sarcastically. "So fess up. What's the deal?"

"Nothing,"

The photographer breathed calmly for a moment. "Yuu," he began, rolling his eyes. "I know _everything_ about you, including how your face looks like every single second since the moment I met you,"

"That is fucking creepy!" Kanda glared at him.

"I have photographic memory," Lavi scowled, "Anyway, if you haven't noticed, you have dark circles under your eyes,"

"No I don't,"

"Yes you do,"

"Just shut up,"

"I'm serious, dude!" the redhead huffed. "The makeup might have hid it just now but it's extremely obvious to me now," he commented. "You haven't been sleeping or what?"

"I—" But Kanda knew it was so obvious he would fail at lying the moment he thought of lying, so he gave up in the end. "Hn,"

"Is it about Rei-chan?" Lavi prodded after a while when Kanda continued to keep silent.

"No,"

"Me?"

A disbelieving cough sounded.

"Lena-chan!" Lavi snapped his fingers, but faltered when Kanda continued to ignore him. "…It can't be Moyashi-chan,"

"What the fuck,"

"Okay, okay," the red head paused, watching Kanda quietly for his reaction. "Is it…about Tiedoll?"

Kanda's eyes hardened and his cast his gaze on the floor. His hands clenched and visible veins began to show on the back of his hand.

"Your aunt called again?" Lavi prodded further, and the model's jaw stiffened. "Come on, Yuu," he sighed. "Speak,"

There was a long period of silence that echoed in the room they were in, and faintly there was the sound of the elevator dinging and low rumbles of speech from people outside.

"I got a phone call from Tiedoll last week," Kanda spoke up eventually, his voice low and reluctant as he crossed his legs and stared at his own hands. "He fucking wants me to visit her by this week," he scowled, "Apparently some doctor proclaims she has one fucking month left to live," then he snorted. "As if I'd buy that bullshit,"

Lavi nodded slowly. "But then, you don't really know _if_ she really is sick, do you?"

"Whose side are you on, moron?" Kanda shot him a glare, hissing. "Of course she's lying through her damn teeth! And Tiedoll's fucking naïve to believe that shit!"

"Okay, assuming she's lying," the redhead relented, "What's with the rush? I mean it's not like you're going anywhere—"

"I'm twenty, you retard,"

"So?"

Kanda gave him an incredulous look. "It's some take over the family fucked up shit and I'm already turning twenty one in a few weeks,"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Lavi interjected, "Because if you're the heir it means she can't really push you around, can she?"

"No, that's all bogus. She still holds the highest power as long as she lives," Kanda looked at him irritated, "Don't you know anything?"

"Hey, I'm an orphan, you arse," Lavi stuck out a childish tongue at him. "Anyway, to summarize, you're saying your aunt wants you to come back to the family and have a happy reunion, and you get crowned the king or something like that," he concluded, "I know your hate her guts, but you can just play along, you know,"

"You truly don't know anything, do you?" Kanda deadpanned, sending him a look.

He huffed. "Enlighten me,"

"The first fucking thing she'll do," the model began, a dark scowl getting deeper, "Is to set up an _omiai_—"

"You're serious," Lavi stated.

"Of course I'm serious you fucker!" Kanda raised his voice angrily. "Apparently I have to marry or some shit like that to take my rightful place—" he muttered to himself, "Goddamn it I don't even want it!"

"Then Rei-chan—" Lavi began, and his eye grew wider in understanding, "Oh," he uttered intelligibly. "Oh. Um, maybe she'd accept Rei-chan and save her the trouble of finding you a wife—"

"She's not pureblood," Kanda closed his eyes exasperatedly.

"…What do you mean?"

"Tch, I already told you all this crap before," the model scowled, his mood clearly dropping steadily, not that it was jolly to begin with. "That bitch fucking _hates_ foreigners. Just because of _my_ blood, she—" he abruptly stopped, growling, " And Rei has fucking red hair! She can't pass off as a pureblooded Japanese in a million years!"

"Right, sorry," Lavi coughed lowly. "So, if you're so against the idea of going back…why are you even considering?"

Kanda muttered something.

"Can't hear you, man,"

"I said," the Japanese spoke louder, scowling heavily, "She promised to tell me about my parents,"

Lavi grimly set his lips in a taunt line as he watched his best friend rub his temples with more vigor like he had a headache, and it was accompanied by a few choice curses here and there.

"Still," he said after a while, "You need to catch up on sleep,"

"They fucking keep coming back," Kanda moodily spat.

It was much obvious that the model was referring to the same dreams that once plagued him. "We can talk through it," Lavi gave him a level look. "Just like the old days,"

"No…" Kanda lifted his hand away from his forehead, shaking his head. "Rei will suspect something,"

"Yuu…" he sighed, "You've got to let her in about this someday,"

"Not now," was the immediate answer.

"Don't you trust her?" the redhead frowned.

"It's not about that," Kanda snapped.

The model made no move to elaborate more than that, and Lavi decided not to prod further. "I'm quite sure she has noticed something already though," he commented, crossing his arms.

"Noticed what?"

Both of them jumped in shock, heads whipping towards the door where Reiichi leaned on the doorframe looking at them both suspiciously.

"Noticed Yuu-chan's new look!" Lavi beamed happily, hastily covering up the slip by pointing to Kanda exaggeratedly, hoping that she'd be distracted enough to forget whatever she had heard—and he vaguely wondered how long she had been standing there.

Reiichi turned to look at Kanda with a raised eyebrow, and Lavi gleefully whipped out a small compact camera he kept in his pocket for this exact moment. It was better to video her reaction down than to snap a picture, because her expression shifted from skeptical to the realization that Kanda was wearing a pair of black frame spectacles, and it was highly obvious—to him, at least—the _appreciation of Kanda Yuu_—the way her eyes widened and mouth dropped open just ever so slightly, and her face started to colour.

"So, how does he look?" Lavi quipped, zooming in further to focus on her expression.

"Ah..u-um.." she stuttered for a while, and when Kanda shot her a small smirk and adjusted the spectacles because they really were uncomfortable, she swallowed uncomfortably and the blush darkened. Somehow, the black frames sitting on the bridge of his nose just made him look more…studious, or smart, and it was kind of _different_.

"He looks..n-normal, I guess…" she lied, and then she noticed her cousin holding a camera in her direction.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, eyes widening further in mortification and lunged to swipe gadget from him. "Delete it!" she scrambled, but Lavi was unfortunately holding it out of her reach.

"Catch, Yuu!" he tossed it to Kanda who caught it nonchalantly.

"Give me the camera!" Reiichi struggled as Lavi hugged her tightly, not letting her escape.

Kanda pressed the play button on the camera, watching whatever Lavi had video a few seconds before curiously. Reiichi watched the smirk on his face grow wider and wider, and finally when the video was done playing, Kanda pocketed the gadget coolly.

"What's so great about this stupid piece of plastic?" he frowned, taking his glasses off with one hand, and scrutinizing it, not caring how that small seemingly meaningless action just made her heart go on overdrive.

"Nothing!" She huffed, averting her gaze away, blush getting heavier as Lavi laughed openly in glee.

"I told you she has a fetish for—"

"I do not!"

* * *

Three days had passed since he talked—admitted—to Lavi about the nightmares coming back. Truthfully, it all started about a week or more ago, when Tiedoll dropped a call that resulting in yelling and hanging up five minutes later. Then the dreams started to come. In the beginning, it was merely bothering his nerves a little. He would wake up, curse a little, walk about restlessly for a bit before going back to sleep. He knew he wasn't back in the old house, and he had moved on—he was twenty, not some ignorant kid of the age of six.

But as the days passed, the scars on the sole of his feet started to ache slightly, and no matter how much he rubbed them, the feeling kept lingering. Then the dreams began to occur more frequently. Even if he woke up and went back to sleep, he'd wake up again an hour later, and the cycle kept continuing. Not to mention the content of the dreams…kept getting more serious.

Longer periods of canning.

The starving.

Desolation.

How he screamed for hours in the dark and no one heard him.

He couldn't sleep more than three hours straight without waking up in cold sweat at some point. It was messing with his mental state greatly—and that pissed him off because he was sleeping in in the mornings, sleeping early after dinner, sleeping whenever he could—and he couldn't even _sleep_ properly. He got irritated even more easily—not that he was a very patient person to begin with—and thankfully Lavi left him alone most of the time to have some rest, and Reiichi never really bothered him much in the first place.

Reiichi.

Like Lavi said, he knew she suspected something. He caught her staring at him with an unreadable look in her eyes a few times, and once or twice she asked if there was something wrong, but he denied it and she left it as that.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her. There wasn't any reason not to. He knew she trusted him, because she didn't prod further when he refused to say anything more. The issue affected him—and most likely affected their _future_—he knew. He knew it was better to let her in.

But he was afraid. If his aunt knew that she, not a pureblood, was connected to him in some way…there was no telling what his aunt would do. If he had suffered so much because his blood was half, then what about her?

"Kanda…?"

He turned slowly to the entrance of the corridor that led to their rooms.

"What are you doing out here?" Reiichi asked curiously.

Kanda was sprawled on a cushion that was used to kneel down on at the low table, legs spread out on the floor and leaning against the bottom of the couch. He was bare bodied, merely wearing long black track pants and his shirt thrown over the couch. His hair was flowing down his shoulders, untied. The television was switched on but muted, and the light from the television lit up the otherwise dark room. The air conditioning was also switched on.

Reiichi padded over to him, crouching down to his position. The playstation three read 3:04 a.m., and she knew he should be sleeping at this hour. She kneeled down, touching his arm softly, meeting his gaze worriedly. He didn't answer, instead tilting his head to lie back on the couch, staring at the ceiling. There wasn't much point in giving an excuse.

"…I can't sleep," he mumbled eventually.

"Oh," she responded, shifting to sit beside him in a more comfortable position. "If…you want to talk about it…"

"No…" he muttered, sighing in frustration as mental images of his nightmare came back just by closing his eyes. This was getting out of hand.

Reiichi stood up suddenly and walked away, and he thought he offended her until she came back a few minutes later, pushing a mug into his hands.

"Hot milk," she explained, drinking her own cup of water in her hands. "Come on, it'll help,"

Reluctantly he looked at the drink, then raised it to his mouth when it seemed like she was going to force him to drink it if he didn't. The warm liquid slid down his throat and pooled in his stomach, spreading warmth across his entire body. He was feeling rather stuffy thanks to the weather from the beginning—hence the shirt off and the air conditioning—but the added heat didn't feel uncomfortable.

"Did you at least talk to Lavi about this?" she questioned, taking the mug from him when he was done and setting it on the low table.

"Hm,"

Reiichi nodded slowly in acceptance. "If there's anything else I can do…" she trailed off, watching Kanda stare at the moving images on the television.

"Go to sleep," he stated eventually.

"I'll stay with you," she shook her head, meeting his eyes seriously.

"Rei," he sighed, "Go back to sleep," he repeated.

She positioned herself so that she was sitting right next to him, refusing to budge. "Once, I asked Lenalee if there was anything I could give you," she began quietly, hugging her legs to her chest, "And she said that I should just be there when you need me and I didn't believe her," she smiled almost regrettably, "Because I thought there was no way you'd ever need me,"

Kanda kept silent, watching her eyes shimmer with the television light.

"I don't know if you need me now," she continued, "But because you don't ever say anything about your troubles…" she took his hand into hers, playing with his fingers and clasping the hands between hers, "I'm just going to be here…in the event that you do,"

When Kanda didn't respond, she turned to look at him and saw his head leaning back on the couch, eyes closed. "Keep talking," he stated, breathing evenly.

It helped to listen to her voice. It brought him back to the present, away from the past that kept coming back to haunt him. It was easier when she spoke, her words ringing in his ears that helped to distract him from the images that kept repeating in his mind. For a moment, there was slight peace.

"What do you want me to talk about?"

"Whatever you want,"

She hummed, shifting closer to him and leaning slightly on his shoulder. "I'll ask you a question first," she said after a moment of thinking, "Why did you choose to be a model?"

"I wanted to move out from the old man," Kanda replied, keeping his eyes closed, "I needed the money, and I got paid quite a lot for a few stints the usagi made me do before…so I just continued from there," he shrugged.

"If you didn't model, then what would you have done?"

"Don't know," he said honestly, "Kendo, maybe,"

Reiichi chuckled, threading her fingers through his. "Well, I got into design because of Lavi," she confessed, "I didn't even like fashion, actually,"

Kanda gave up attempting to doze off to participate in the conversation. "I could tell from the first time I saw you," he snorted, "Thank god your portfolio was worlds apart from what you wore,"

"I woke up late that day," she huffed, "So I took whatever was on the top in my closet,"

"Yeah right," he rolled his eyes, not bothering to hide the amused smirk on his lips, "You looked like you were at some college party the night before,"

"I took a crumpled shirt, big deal," she scowled. "Anyway, as I was saying, I decided to do fashion design because of Lavi," she mused, "Actually, it was your fault, come to think of it,"

"How is it my fault?" he demanded, "I didn't even know who the hell you were, except from usagi's constant irritating babbles about you—"

"Exactly," Reiichi nodded, "Lavi kept talking about _you_," she frowned slightly, "And at that time, Lavi was the most important person to me. I mean, he still is, but now—" she glanced at him quickly, blushing slightly, "Um, " she cleared her throat slightly. "I just felt he was slipping away from me, you know? Like you were stealing him away because whenever he talked about you, he just looked so happy,"

"Then you should've seen his stupid grin when he talks about you," Kanda muttered.

She smiled fondly. "Lavi gave me that picture of yours when he told me he was going into fashion photography full time," she continued, "I remember thinking that I won't lose Lavi to you," she laughed softly, "So I went into design, since Lavi was in that industry,"

Kanda stared at her. "Is that why you were a jealous bitch to me that day we met?"

"What jealous bitch?" she narrowed her eyes, glaring at him.

"You insulted and defamed me," he commented, "I could've sued you for that,"

"It's not defamation if it's the truth," she huffed, "You were acting like some arrogant prick with a second helping of douchebaggery,"

He gave her a look that stated he was clearly unimpressed.

"Fine, since you act like that every day, I guess it's normal for you," she relented, chuckling at the annoyed scowl he shot her.

Kanda glared at her coolly for a moment, then he retracted his hand that she had been playing with for the past few minutes. Reiichi paused for a moment, unsure if she really offended him for real, then squeaked in surprise when his right arm slid underneath her shirt, purposely brushing her skin to hook around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

"You've got some nerve," he breathed, voice deeper and huskier than normal.

She was nearly sprawled on him, more like pressed up against his bare body with her hands on his shoulders to steady herself and their faces were so close that their noses were nearly touching. She could hear herself barely breathing, heart thumping loud enough to blank her mind. Her hands were trembling faintly, and she licked her bottom lip, not daring to break the silent spell.

Just for one minute, they locked gazes.

"I keep having the feeling like Lavi is going to barge in any moment," she muttered eventually, earning a snort from him.

"The front door is locked," Kanda stated, hands starting to wander across her bare skin, grazing some sensitive spots at her sides with the pads of his thumbs, causing her to squirm slightly.

"He has the key rememb— hey—stop that!" she insisted, face going redder visibly even under faint light from the television. "Ka—"

He shut her up easily, taking her mouth into his naturally. He played with her bottom lip for a while, nipping and sucking before moving deeper into her mouth, reveling in that delicious warmth he was so addicted to. Slowly he pushed her onto the floor with his other hand, immediately straddling her hips in a fluid motion, never once breaking the passionate kiss.

He circled her belly with his thumb, earning and few quiet gasps and vaguely he felt her hands scrapping against his chest in jerky motions, obviously unable to think clearly under his ministrations. At long last he pulled back slightly, watching her pant heavily with her face flushed and looking dazedly back up at him, and his hair had fallen down the sides of his face like a dark curtain, eyes gleaming from the reflection of the television light.

Reiichi blushed darkly when she realized their position and was unable to even utter a single word as she moved her hands uncertainly, since he was pressing her to the floor bare bodied, all she could touch was his smooth muscles strong from daily workout.

"Quit teasing me," he growled, taking her wrists and pinning them to the sides.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked anxiously when he didn't let go of her hands, starting to tug them free but to no avail.

He didn't answer, but instead leaned down again for another deeper kiss, and Reiichi didn't know she was kissing him back until the contact between them kept weakening and she opened her eyes to see Kanda smirking back down at her, running his tongue over his bottom lip erotically. She flushed deeper as he stared back intensely for a moment before heading for the patch of skin right below her ear.

"I'll make you scream my name," he whispered darkly into her ear, licking the sensitive part in a swirl.

Reiichi jolted upright in shock, but his weight kept her down. "KANDA!" she shouted, closing her eyes exasperatedly in mortification. "I-I told you we're not going to—"

"I told you you'd scream my name," Kanda leaned back smirking.

"Not funny," she scowled. "I seriously thought you…you…"

"I what?" he raised an eyebrow, the smug expression starting to irritate her. "You have a dirtier mind than I thought,"

She shot him the least amused glare she could muster without succumbing to the urge to dig a hole to cover her embarrassment.

"I'm not going to do that," he stated, leaning forwards again to brush his lips across her neck, feeling her hands twitch when he blew on a sensitive spot.

"Then what?" she tugged at her still pinned hands futilely, "Why are you still holding me down?"

"Because you'd make it harder for me to control myself," he admitted, continuing his way towards her collarbone and back up again.

"Oh—" her breath hitched when his lips latched right below her jawline, and she realized exactly what he was going to do. "Kanda don't—K-kan—" he nipped the spot gently first, then licked it and sucked, causing her to slip a moan unconsciously.

"Kanda!" she growled once her thoughts were coherent, "I told you never to do that again!" she complained, glaring at him. "It's _summer_ right now," she slowly enunciated each word dangerously, "And I can't wear anything to cover that! I hope you are satisfied when your _best friend_ which so happens to be my _cousin_ and has the biggest _mouth_ and wildest _imagination_ in the entire universe see this," she breathed heavily to catch her breath.

"Che," he snorted grumpily, letting loose her hands, proceeding to slide his hands around her waist like before. "Fine," he murmured.

He kissed her slowly on the lips for a few quiet moments as she wrapped her arms around his neck to bring him closer. Softly he brushed his lips to the corner of her mouth and past her cheek, burying his face into the crook of her neck. His breath tickled her slightly and she squirmed.

She paused when she realized Kanda _never_ did this—for he wasn't really one to sit around and cuddle—and she raised her hand to thread through his hair rhythmically. His weight was almost fully upon her and he was kind of heavy, but she didn't dare to push him off, especially when the grip around her waist tightened.

"Everything alright?" she questioned quietly.

He didn't respond directly, but instead breathed deeper and shifted so that he was lying on the floor next to her, enabling him to further pull her closer. She lifted her head cautiously and saw that he had his eyes closed and his breathing was starting to even out.

It just felt right. Her warmth tucked in his arms, the familiar faint scent of lavender that came from her—it was enough to make him forget about his past, and he murmured something inaudible in satisfaction upon realizing this, because it was becoming way too comfortable, and the weight of improper sleep for more than a week finally crashed on him.

"Stay with me," he mumbled close to her ear, and with that vulnerable phrase, suddenly she had an inkling to the reason he hadn't been sleeping well recently.

There was only one time she ever heard him speak like that.

She nodded, tracing his tattoo on his chest gently, feeling his heartbeat slow to a steady pace.

Within a minute, he was asleep.

* * *

Kanda blinked sleepily, stirring silently from his sleep. The first thing he registered was red hair. Then something warm pressed against him. Then finally his hands wound around someone's waist. For a moment he slowly recalled yesterday—or this early morning's—events, loosening his grip on Reiichi's still sleeping form to turn and glance around, wincing when his neck creaked—the floor was a bad place to fall asleep on, he decided—and then his gaze settled upon the closed curtains of his house.

In a flicker his eyes darted to the nearest clock which was the playstation three.

_11:48 a.m._

_Fuck_. He thought faintly, realizing that he had overslept, and overslept by _a lot_ at that. Given that he probably fell asleep sometime after 4, he had effectively gotten seven hours of undisturbed sleep, which was quite a miracle considering his sleeping time hadn't lasted more than three hours in the past few days. On the other hand, he was extremely _late_ for work—

"Wake up," he nudged Reiichi who looked too comfortable on the floor. Or maybe it was because she was hugging him in return.

The girl groaned, not opening her eyes.

"Get up," he repeated, pushing himself into an upright position as he shook her. "Rei," he started, voice starting to edge a little dangerously. "It's nearly _twelve_ right now—"

Reiichi sat up so fast, she accidentally crashed into Kanda's face, and both of them clutched their faces, moaning in pain.

"Fuck—what was that for?" he demanded, rubbing his sore chin where she had hit him.

But she was more focused on the clock. "Shit," she muttered frantically, rubbing her forehead at the same time. "I'm supposed to do a presentation at ten to the rest of the team!" she cried, hastily getting up and stumbling for a moment before rushing to her room in panic.

"And I'm fucking _late_—" Kanda scowled, unable to believe that he, _Kanda_ _Yuu_, was late.

It seemed like Lavi thought it was impossible too, for the redhead was waiting at the carpark when they arrived after much rushing—Reiichi only greeted her cousin with a quick smile before running towards the glass doors.

"Where have you two been?" Lavi demanded seriously, coming to stand in front of his car after he parked it. "I called you and Rei-chan more than thirty times and neither of you picked up!"

"Overslept," Kanda growled, shutting his car door and ignoring the befuddled expression on his friend's face.

"Y-you…_what_?" Lavi choked, his eye nearly bugging out of his socket. "Wait, wait, wait… _WHAT_?"

"Shut up," the model retorted moodily, stalking towards the building after ensuring his car was locked. "There wasn't a shoot in the morning anyway,"

"Okay," the red head gaped at him like he officially lost it. "Who are you, and what have you done with Yuu?"

Kanda just glared at him, continuing his way towards the glass doors.

"Seriously, Yuu," Lavi came to hook an arm over his shoulder. "You overslept? You?" he repeated again incredulously. "_You_?"

"What?" the model scowled, trying to shrug him off. "It was the first time in a _week_ that I fucking slept more than three hours at one go—so shut the fuck up,"

"Huh," the redhead nodded slowly. "I'm assuming the sex must have tired you out enough,"

"W-what the fuck are _you_ talking about?" Kanda nearly dropped his keys.

"Don't deny it," Lavi grinned, "I totally saw that love bite on her neck,"

Kanda suddenly realized the real meaning of Reiichi's rant as he shut his ears and pretended he was deaf while trying not to react in drastic ways of blushing as Lavi unabashedly tried to paint a graphic image of what he thought they did with no shame whatsoever—and vaguely, Kanda also wondered about the rest of the design team's reactions if they noticed the mark—but that was a given, seeing that he had done it at a _obvious_ place.

Hm.

Rumours were going to start. He knew it.

* * *

One thing Reiichi learnt from being in a relationship with the most wanted man in Japan, was that rumours spread faster than wild bush fires.

No words could express the humiliation she felt when she burst into the meeting room just at the moment when the morning meeting ended, and she apologized profusely for her absence for nearly an entire minute repeatedly bowing, until she realized everyone was just staring at her with the most uncomfortable silence.

She swallowed, thinking that she was going to be reprimanded, but she noticed all of them weren't staring at her face, but her neck instead. It took her a few seconds before she slapped a hand over the red mark, face burning with embarrassment and she nearly dropped the file she was holding in alarm.

Inwardly, she cursed Kanda with all her vocabulary.

The guys were decent enough to cough uncomfortably and look away, patting her shoulder as they continued their way out for lunch, but the girls—especially Emilia, were extremely enthusiastic about it. So much so that they waved her tardiness like it was nothing and started to grill her on her _experience _with Kanda Yuu—of which was still non-experience actually—which left her speechless and red faced until she was able to summon her ability to speak to correct them.

But the damage already had been done. In the afternoon, the head of departments actually popped by her cubicle to _congratulate_ her or the like, and by the end of work, she couldn't walk a step without someone mentioning her or Kanda or bed in the same sentence.

Just two more days, and the entire Japan knew about it.

"For the last time—WE DIDN'T DO IT!" Reiichi insisted, frustrated that her _friends_ didn't believe her.

Apparently Saturday mornings were the best time for an interrogating session, she thought, as she twirling around idly on her chair with her laptop switched on and hand phone pressed against her ear.

"There's no other explanation why _Kanda Yuu_ was late for work for the first time in his life," Haruka retorted belatedly over the phone, "And you were late _with_ him—"

"He sends me to the office!" she argued.

"That still does not disprove the evidence," Kaori interjected coolly.

"What evidence are you talking about? She asked suspiciously. "And how do you guys even know about this?" she demanded.

"Newspaper," Shizuka quipped. "It's much obvious you haven't been reading it,"

"I'm talking about pictorial evidence," Kaori added, "I just sent you an email with the said picture attached. Go see it for yourself,"

Indeed, there was a pop-up on her laptop screen signaling the arrival of new mail, and Reiichi clicked it curiously.

The picture that Kaori was talking about was definitely shot by someone in the office, and it was probably done with a handphone camera, considering the low quality of it. Still, that hickey on her neck was blinding obvious on her pale skin.

"We-he—" she growled, closing the tab immediately, "He was just playing around!"

"But you admitted you guys slept together—"

"I meant it literally!" she groaned, tempted to break her phone, "Kanda had some trouble sleeping, so I kept him company and we fell asleep after,"

"Huh, I wonder what you mean by _keeping him company_," Haruka muttered.

"Kanda is not like that," Reiichi finally stated stonily, a tinge of anger in her words. "If you guys don't believe me, I rather we end this conversation now,"

There was silence for a few moments in the four way conversation.

"Sorry, Zero-chan," Haruka eventually murmured. "We just thought—Koibito-san, well—"

"He doesn't exactly have the best track record," Kaori supplied, but her tone was apologetic.

"Even if Kanda doesn't, but you thought_ I_—"

"Zero-chan…" Shizuka cut in before her retort was too heated, "Please understand that there are some things that need to be sorted out first before you consummate with him," she said. "How long has it been with Kanda-san now?"

"It's around the end of May...so about eight months…"

"Seems like it was just yesterday we found out that Zero-chan was dating Koibito-san, right?" Haruka chirped happily.

"Hmm," Kaori agreed, "Eight months is pretty long. That's really good though,"

"Yeah," Shizuka replied, "But do you love him, Zero-chan?"

Reiichi blinked, not expecting the question. "What are you saying? Of course I…I…"

"No, I'm asking if you _love_ him," Shizuka interjected firmly. "Not whether you _like_ Kanda-san. _Love_. Are you prepared to live the rest of your life with him? Are you sure you'll stay with him and him only till you die? Have kids with him? Grow old with him?"

Reiichi didn't answer.

"Love is a really strong word, Zero-chan…" Shizuka continued softly. "If you say you love him, you must mean it,"

"I…I do think about it," Reiichi eventually answered. "Whether we'll be together even after five years…or ten…or forever…but I…I'm twenty…and Kanda's turning twenty one soon…we're young. I cannot predict what will happen in the future and I'm slightly…unsure," she admitted, "But I…I do think I lo—"

"Don't say it yet," Kaori cut her off gently. "Only when you're absolutely sure,"

"And you should say it to Koibito-san first," Haruka added in. "You think you can promise us that?"

Reiichi nodded her head slowly. "Yeah," she murmured. "I promise,"

* * *

"_Who are you?" A low deadly voice hissed, the words spilling out of tight thin lips. "Tell me, who are you?"_

_Her sharp fingernails that were so delicately shaped seemed like dangerous tools now, especially with the way they were trailing across a pale cheek. If any more pressure was put, Kanda was sure the flesh would start to bleed._

"_Leave her alone!" he roared, struggling as hard as he could to get to them, but there was just something holding his wrists down. _

"_I didn't ask you, you worthless scum," that mature sharp refined features turned to glare at him, and he pulled at his bound arms futilely. _

_That familiar face of his aunt contorted into a disgusted expression, turning towards a girl she was gripping painfully in her hand by the chin. Reiichi. Already finger marks were visible on her neck, and she choked painfully when the grip tightened._

"_I..I.." Reiichi tried to sound out, but she couldn't really say anything in due to the hold at the base of her jaw._

"_Such flith," the older woman muttered lowly, eyes glinting like steel before she slapped the red headed girl across the face, releasing her roughly from her grip._

_The sound echoed loudly, and Kanda cursed, struggling to stand up despite the blood that kept flowing from beneath his feet. His aunt ignored him wholly, taking one step towards Reiichi who tried to pick herself up from the floor, cupping her face._

"_Fuck—get the hell away from her!" he yelled, but all that did was for the older woman to grab Reiichi's front and haul her up mercilessly._

"_Rats like you, _foreigners_," his aunt spat out the word with great distaste, "Are the reason why _we_ suffered so much," she raised her hand for another strike, and brought it down hard._

"_Rei—?" Kanda yanked his body forward in panic, but why the fuck just couldn't he move? His feet was burning hotter than fire, and old wounds were reopening again, but why—just why couldn't he—_

"_Dirt like you," Iseki continued, "Taint our land,"_

_Another hard smack across Reiichi's face, and he could see visible streaks of red. "Stop—"_

"_Our water," _

_Slap._

"_Fucking god just—"_

"_Our blood,"_

_Slap._

"_STOP IT!"_

Kanda jerked awake, breathing harshly. Sweat was pouring down his body, and it was cold sweat. But he couldn't be bothered to take off his shirt at this point, for his mind was still fuzzy with the images and his heart was pumping erratically. He sat up slowly and looked around, realizing he had slumped over the dinner table while drinking green tea.

Fuck. He hadn't gotten any proper sleep since two days ago when he fell asleep on the floor with Reiichi, because the dreams continued. And this time it became worse. It wasn't about his six year old self, but his present, and with his aunt…and Reiichi.

He couldn't go back. Not when the memories were still fresh after twelve years away from the household. His feet was particularly burning and he flexed them, rubbing the soles on the floor like it would help the sensation to go away, but it didn't.

But he _needed_ to go back.

He never felt complete, because there was something missing inside of him. His parents. He wanted to know, no matter how much he denied it, and he needed it. Why his mother died, why his father left them behind, why he was made to suffer in that hell alone.

Why he was born in the first place.

"Hey," Reiichi touched his shoulder, pulling out the chair next to him to sit.

She was just venturing out of her room to grab a drink from the kitchen when she spotted Kanda sitting at the dining table unmoving. It struck her as odd, because Kanda would usually be exercising at this time of the day. When she stepped closer and he didn't respond, she grew worried.

She peered at his face, noting the weary and frustrated crease on his forehead, and also the blank dead eyes that felt lost. "Couldn't sleep again?"

Kanda didn't respond, but that was enough of an answer. Reiichi cupped his face gently, turning his head to look at her. His eyes flickered to her face, as though scrutinizing, and his hand came to touch her cheek. He murmured something inaudible and dropped the hand, his shoulders sagging with something like relief.

She bit her lip, not liking how he was so lost in his own world at the moment. It was like his eyes weren't really _seeing_ but gazing—into somewhere else far away. She was used to his scowl, or at least some sort of angry expression, but this time his face was blank. Purely blank, and honestly, it scared her more than she could imagine. Wordlessly, she reached out to hug him, sliding her arms around his chest.

He didn't return the hug, face pressed against her shoulder. For a few quiet moments she heard him breathe in deeply, and they stayed like that until she felt something vibrating. "…Kanda, I think it's your phone,"

He made no move to retrieve it, or whether he even heard her, so she felt for his pocket and pulled it out. The black gadget continued to vibrate.

"Kanda…?" she urged softly, leaning back to look at him, but he only pulled her back.

"Don't move," he murmured with closed eyes.

"…" Reiichi ran her hand through his hair for a few moments, at a loss of what to do with Kanda being acting rather oddly. "I'll answer it?" she questioned, but there was no response.

His phone continued to vibrate, so she flicked the phone open, bringing it to her ear cautiously. "Hello?"

"Yuu-kun! You picked up!" cried an over enthusiastic accented voice.

Reiichi scrambled in her memory to put a name to the voice. "…Tiedoll-san?"

"Who is this—ah, is it Reiichi-kun? Yuu-kun's wife?" he asked happily.

"Um, yes," she replied hesitantly, "I mean, yes, I'm Reiichi, but no, I'm not his wife," she continued, stroking Kanda's hair softly and the model didn't move an inch, "If you're looking for Kanda then he's…resting right now,"

"Resting you say?" Tiedoll hummed, "Yes, yes, that's good news, considering the how little he sleeps with the nightmares—"

"About the nightmares—" she wanted to enquire, but Tiedoll ploughed on.

"But no matter," he gushed, "Can you pass on a message for me?"

"Sure I guess," she said, but Kanda could probably hear the entire conversation for himself now.

"Tell Yuu-kun to make a decision by tonight. Iseki-san will be waiting tomorrow, and that's her last offer," then his voice lowered, "Although, Reiichi-kun, I would appreciate it if you could help convince him—"

"Is this about visiting his aunt again?" she asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Yes, I thought Yuu-kun would have told you about it—"

"He didn't," she cut him off shortly.

"Oh," Tiedoll sounded disappointed. "I see,"

"Tiedoll-san," she began softly. "I apologise, I didn't mean to sound rude."

"No, that's alright—"

"I understand that Kanda has things he doesn't want to tell me," she firmly stated, absently rubbing Kanda's back now, "And I stand by what I said before. It's Kanda's decision,"

"Well, my boy can be quite indecisive," Tiedoll chuckled. "I leave it to you, then,"

"Sorry I can't be of much help," she answered apologetically.

"No…just stay with him," the old man replied knowingly. "Like now,"

The connection was cut off before she could say anything to that. She looked at his phone unsurely, closing it with a click before setting it on the table quietly. Kanda made no move to show if he had heard the conversation at all. She continued to pat his hair, because she had nothing else to keep her hands busy and his silence was starting to worry her greatly.

"If this is about your childhood…" she started softly, "If it's causing you this much pain…then I don't want you to go," she admitted, fingers curling determinedly.

He didn't speak for a while, and when he did, his voice was flat, but vulnerable. "Why are you not angry?"

"Why should I be angry?" she asked in return.

Kanda grasped her arms, and she felt his hands shaking slightly. He pulled back to look at her directly. "Because I haven't told you anything,"

"I...I won't lie and say I'm not troubled by it," she confessed, "Or upset…" she gave him a weak smile, "But if telling me makes it more painful for you then I don't need to know. Not now,"

Kanda dropped his grip on her, leaning back on his chair and eyes cast downwards guiltily.

Why was she always thinking of him first?

Why was she so unreasonably understanding?

"Kanda…?" she spoke up quietly when he made no response.

"Iseki…," he spoke with a low voice, and Reiichi paused, since she did not expect him to say anything. "Is my mother's elder sister,"

His hands were trembling involuntarily, but he just watched his fingers detachedly, like it didn't belong to him. She placed a cautious hand over them, clasping them tightly in encouragement.

"She…she hates anyone not of Japanese blood," he continued, "Like my…father,"

Reiichi kept quiet, knowing it was better to let him talk it out at his own pace.

"And me," he said almost bitterly, "Because my blood isn't pure,"

"You're half," she murmured, remembering that she learnt about this fact the other time.

"French," he nodded, "My father was a distant cousin of Tiedoll…" then he snorted, "Or so the geezer says. I don't know anything about my parents because there was nothing the old man could tell me. He came when I was about eight, and I was in his foster care ever since,"

Reiichi nodded, rubbing circles on the back of his hand.

"At the household…I lived in the outer quarters ever since I could remember, since I wasn't allowed to step in the inner quarters because I would…dirty it," he muttered, a glint of hatred came to his eyes, "And I wasn't allowed to leave my room unless summoned. If I did something…wrong…then I was starved. Or caned,"

He raised up one leg to show her the sole of his foot, marred with streaks of white scars. It was like a make up for the perfection of the rest of his body—here, it was filled with crisscross of healed flesh in disarray, a stark contrast to his usual smooth skin. Reiichi traced them lightly, a grim look on her features.

"If she caned here, then no one would suspect her of abuse," he explained, bitterness seeping into his voice, "But it wasn't like anyone would see me anyway. I didn't see anyone if I stayed in the room, unless I broke out,"

"Then what about Zuu-san and Karma-san?"

"The old man was a cook in the inner quarters when I was six," he answered, "I bumped into him when I slipped out once at night, and he tried to help me after that…like giving me food when I wasn't allowed to eat and he got found out—so he got fired. The idiot is his grandson or something. He was too obvious is trying to make friends with me, so he had to go too,"

"So…why is she calling you back?" she asked quietly.

"I'm of age…and she's…_supposedly_…" he spat that word out, "Dying. I'm the only direct next of kin of the main Kanda family…so she wants me to take the place as head," he explained. "But I don't fucking care about that," he scowled deeply, and seeing that familiar expression on his face made Reiichi breathe a small sigh of relief, "The only reason why I'm considering is because she promised to give me letters my parents left for me before they died," he growled, frustrated, "And to show me my mother's grave…if I go back,"

"Kanda…I…" Reiichi bit her lip, voice filled with regret, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry—"

"What are you apologizing for?" he demanded, "I don't want your pity—"

"No," she shook her head, gripping his hand tighter, "What I said at the café…before the first theme of our project," she swallowed, "I didn't mean it. I really didn't mean it,"

"…I know you didn't," he grumbled. "You already apologized for that,"

"Still, I didn't realize—"

"Stop it," he glared at her, and she dropped the subject.

Kanda sighed frustrated, running his free hand through his hair several times while Reiichi sat quietly beside him. His dilemma wasn't going away, and from Reiichi's and the old man's conversation just now, he had to decide by tonight. If he missed this chance, it was likely he wasn't allowed back for the rest of his life. But if he went back…

"I can…go with you," Reiichi spoke after a long stretch of silence. "If you want," she added cautiously, "Even if I can't do anything but I…I'll stay with you,"

"Are you an idiot?" he frowned at her, "I already said that she hates non-Japanese blood and _you—_," he pointedly looked at her, stopping abruptly, "She'll…hurt you," he muttered.

There was no way he was going to let her come with him, especially not after his recent nightmare. There was just absolutely no way he was going to put her in a position that was going to cost her.

"She might," she agreed, "But this is important to you, isn't it?"

He scowled. "What kind of stupid—"

"It's not stupid," she looked at him seriously, "This is important to you,"

"You don't understand!" he growled lowly, "She…_she_ has no qualms in treating you in whatever way she likes—"

"If you don't go…" Reiichi interrupted him softly, "You'll regret it, won't you?"

Yes. Yes, he would.

Even if he had denied going back so many times, saying that he would never step foot into that place again, saying that he hated his aunt with every fiber of his being—and it was true, but now there was a _reason_ to go back…

"I…I'll go alone," he eventually said, "You just stay at home and—"

"No," she shook her head firmly, "No," she repeated, pulling her hand away from his and wrapped her arms around him to pull him close. "I will be there when you need me," she whispered, holding him tight. "Let me come with you,"

The truth was, he did need her. He was lacking strength, courage, to face his childhood. Having her presence was good enough to calm him down, keep his mind sane and not lose to the memories that would definitely flood back upon seeing the place where he was locked up in in his younger years.

And in that selfish moment, he nodded.

* * *

"Stay safe, Rei-chan," Lavi said.

"I know," she murmured back, phone pressed against her ear.

"Stay with Yuu," he added.

She glanced at Kanda who wasn't really paying attention to her and nodded slightly. "Yeah,"

The trip to Kyoto took slightly more than two hours by the bullet train. Kanda had somehow managed to book an entire carriage, and she wasn't sure how he even did it in one night—maybe his name really brought some privileges after all. But it was necessary. She highly doubted he would be in the mood to face his fans, not that he was ever in the mood to do so before.

Kanda barely spoke a word ever since yesterday, only replying with monosyllable answers or nods or shakes of the head to any of her questions. In the morning he emerged looking more tired than before, like he hadn't slept a single wink at all throughout the night. She had never seen him in that state, because Kanda was always _Kanda Yuu_—confident, proud, but lately it seemed like he was getting detached to the real world.

And after hearing about his past, she wasn't sure if she herself could have handled it any better than he was now. It was one thing to lose her parents, but she knew her parents loved her. Loved Lavi. Loved them. Kanda, on the other hand, never experienced anything like that.

She snapped out of her own musings when Kanda's fingers slipped into hers, the metal ring on his forth finger bumping against her skin. She raised her head to glance at him, but he was looking outside the window, face blank. Faintly she realized his hand was trembling.

He was scared.

And that thought made her more afraid too. Kanda was the kind of person who was never afraid of anything. Or rather, he never showed that he was afraid. But this was _his_ past, and the least she could do was to be strong when he wasn't.

She returned his grip reassuringly, and just for one moment, she felt him squeeze back too.

* * *

神田

Judging by the family name on the wooden sign and how Kanda was standing in front of the entrance rather reluctantly, Reiichi deduced they were at the right place.

They took another hour by taxi before they entered an area which looked extremely intimidating. The houses started to become bigger, and more traditional. Then it became estates and the walls were so high up she could only see gateways into the households from time to time as they drove past. The Kanda family must certainly be extremely rich or important—and that was discounting Kanda as a model. Then she remembered he mentioned something about main quarters and outer quarters of his household. Definitely, his family was well off.

"Shouldn't we knock it?" she gestured to the heavy metal knob on the gate.

Kanda stared at it for the longest while in silence, and she knew he didn't want to a single step closer.

She gave him an encouraging smile. "Let's have soba when this is over, okay?"

Taking a deep breath, Kanda reached out and knocked on the metal gate three times. The echoes were loud and resounding throughout the otherwise empty street, a cold dread started to settle in his bones. Maybe it was a bad idea to even consider coming back. Perhaps he could just turn around and leave, pretend that he didn't actually come back.

But no.

Gripping the handle tightly, he knocked for one final time before stepping back. He could only hear himself breathing as he stared at the closed gate, half wishing that someone would open up, and half wishing that no one was in so that he had an excuse to leave.

Reiichi glanced at him and noted he was tensed up rather visibly. Placing a gentle hand on his arm, she squeezed it, giving him a slight nod when he looked back at her. His eyes were unreadable, but faintly she felt a sort of fear, anger and hatred mixed together. His look softened slightly when he nodded back.

There was the sound of a metal lock sliding open and the gate doors swung open, revealing a relatively old woman with graying hairs pinned in a tight bun greeting them with a tight frown. Behind her, a young lady gazed curiously at them both. Both of them were wearing simple pale kinomos.

"Inform Kanda-dono," was the older woman's curt instruction to the other, and the girl bowed hastily and scampered off.

"Kanda-dono has been expecting you," she turned to Kanda, eyeing him, and her frown became deeper.

Kanda pressed his lips tighter, but it was obvious the way his eyes started to shimmer with resentment that he clearly remembered this particular lady. He gave a curt nod and made to enter, brushing past the lady with little regard, but when Reiichi made to follow, she held out an arm.

"She may not enter," she stated firmly, not even bothering to look at Reiichi.

"She's with me," Kanda returned just as flatly.

"She may not enter," the woman repeated again, glaring at him with distaste. "How insolent of you to bring back such _trash_," she remarked. "Kanda-dono has been upmost merciful to invite you back, and yet—"

Kanda immediately narrowed his eyes, the surge of anger flaring up even greater. "We're leaving," he spat, grabbing Reiichi's wrist as he turned around.

"If you do," the servant continued coolly, "You will no longer be young master of this household,"

"I never was," the model muttered harshly in return, ready to walk off and never return, but there was a smaller hand holding his wrist that tugged him to stop.

"Kanda…" Reiichi felt his fists shaking with the extremely strong urge to punch the woman, but he held back because she was older and female. "Hey," she murmured softly, trying to calm him down. "You have to go in," she told him, "I'll...wait for you here,"

"She…_she_," Kanda hissed back, unable to believe how she could stand there and pretend like those words the older woman had so purposely said didn't even bother her in the slightest, "Just called you _trash_—"

"I came here prepared," she cut him off, meeting his eyes seriously, and he realized that while she kept her cool, she had already begun to form a strong dislike for the other lady, "But this isn't about me," she continued softer. "We've—_you've_ come this far,"

At his silence, she murmured, "Don't lose to your memories,"

For a while Kanda stood there breathing quietly in order to clear his mind. She was right. There was a reason he suffered so many days of sleepless nights before coming to this decision. There was a reason why he was pushing himself to do something he so badly wanted to avoid. He was closest ever to the truth he always wanted to find.

The younger servant who had gone to inform Iseki came running back down the path. "Kanda-dono will be in the main quarters," she related the message quickly.

The main quarters. This was the first time he was actually allowed to the main quarters. The only other times he had gone there was during his nightly escapades. Being invited to the main quarters meant something, because only the direct line of the Kanda family was allowed to stay in those quarters.

"I'll wait here," Reiichi added when she saw Kanda flicker his gaze towards her. "I promise,"

Kanda slowly let go of his grip on her wrist and gave her once last look before turning to the older woman who had been watching them with unsuppressed disapproval.

"Lead the way," he stated flatly.

The lady narrowed her eyes, turning to the younger servant who had stayed quiet since her announcement. "Keep watch on her," she commanded curtly before stalking off down the same path, and Kanda trailed behind.

Reiichi gazed at his retreating back that slowly disappeared as the distance stretched between them grew larger, praying that it'd be alright.

* * *

The stone statues, the cherry blossom trees, the lotus littered pond. The wooden floorboards, the delicate rice paper doors, the cobbled path. It was the same as it was then.

He remembered the front door where he accidently tore the paper and was caned. Or that time when he was caught hiding underneath the floorboards. Or when he first ventured out to the gardens, and was subsequently punished for stepping out of his enclosed room.

"Wash the filth off your hands," he was instructed when they came to the water well. "It wouldn't do well to contaminate the main quarters—"

"I refuse," he said immediately, crossing his arms.

The woman glared at him and he returned the look, because he wasn't a small and naïve kid who coward every time he was scolded anymore.

"You should know your place," the lady eventually hissed after a minute of stubborn death looks back and forth, continuing the way towards their designation.

After a while they came towards the main house, a structure that was bigger than the rest of the household, and soon they stopped outside a room with the door shut.

"Kanda-dono," the old woman bowed respectfully outside the door, a far cry from what her tone had been towards him. "Young master is here,"

"Enter,"

That voice. That stern, crisp, _sharp_ voice. Immediately, a dreaded chill shot down Kanda's spine and he unconsciously flinched. How long had it been? 12 years? But it wasn't enough for him to forget. This person was the one who ruined his childhood, the beginning tender years of his life. It wasn't quite so easy to forget.

The door slid open to reveal someone sitting proudly erect on the tatami flooring in the traditional kneeling position. That mature sharp features had a few wrinkles due to age, and the bunned hair had turned light grey, almost white, but she still looked the same as she did so many years ago. The same eyes that was just as alert as a hawk, the proud nose that always looked down on him, tin lips set to a tight frown. The kimono she was wearing was rather elegant; a deep blue with faint prints of a lotus at the edges, and the obi was a light red with a white cord.

For a few minutes, the aunt and nephew stared at each other silently.

"You look like her, except those eyes…" Iseki muttered finally under her breath. "Brat," she growled, sending Kanda a stern look, "Where are the manners I taught you?"

"You didn't teach me _anything_," Kanda snarled, clenching his fists tightly.

"Watch that mouth of yours, boy," she snapped, "Sit,"

The model tensed, already not liking how he was already being ordered about, but he sat down anyway.

"Leave us," Iseki commanded the old servant who bowed respectfully and shut the door behind her with an ominous sound.

Again, uncomfortable silence.

"I see that you are well, _oba_-_san_," Kanda couldn't help but comment sarcastically, gripping his fists so tightly that he might as well bleed from the pressure.

"What's with that tone," she narrowed her eyes.

"You said that you had one fucking month left to live," he snorted, eyeing her much healthy complexion.

"I merely requested for you to come by today," Iseki answered calmly, though her tone of voice was edging towards dangerous. "Any additional info is probably from that," she wrinkled her nose, "_outsider_," she lowered her voice, "Can't trust them,"

Outsider? Tideoll?

Tiedoll was the one who lied?

Kanda could tell his aunt wasn't lying.

But why would Tiedoll do that?

"Whatever," he frowned. "Give me whatever I came here for,"

"Not before you carry out your part," she responded coldly. "As much as I despise you, boy, you have to take over as the head," Iseki began, pinning him down with her gaze. "The Kanda line will have to continue. Quit that…lowly and tasteless…_job_ of yours and start to learn the ropes of management," she frowned. "You'll have—"

"No," he cut her off, "I am not interested,"

"And I am not giving you a choice," she returned sharply. "The line must continue,"

"Then why don't you ask some random kid from the outer quarters?" he demanded. "What about my…._tainted," _he scoffed, "blood?"

Iseki pursed her lips together firmly, meeting Kanda's glare equally. "We can remedy that down the line," she said. "In two weeks, you will meet Higurashi's daughter—"

"I will _not_ marry some fucked up rich man's daughter for the sake for maintaining the family line," he stated immediately. "Especially when I don't even care about this so called _family_,"

His aunt seemed to bristle at his defiance.

"You seem to forget what I will give you in return," she hissed after a stretch of silence.

Kanda stubbornly kept his mouth shut. No, he did not forget, but was there any reason why he should care about taking over as family head? Was there any thread that bounded him to stay in this household and leave his current life?

"Or maybe," Iseki narrowed her eyes, "there's something holding you back," she spoke slowly, "or someone," a tiny smirk of triumph tugged at the edge of her lips the moment Kanda flinched. "My sources…" she started, watching the way he started to clench his fists, "tell me that you are involved with one of those—"

"Leave her out of this," Kanda growled low.

"Maybe, if she was _disposed_ of—"

The model slammed his fist on the floor, ignoring the jolt of pain that vibrated through his arm. "Leave her out of this," he repeated harshly.

Iseki merely stared back at him coolly. "How shameful," she scoffed, raking her eyes over his tensed form. "I thought I drilled in you the scum that you were with that dirty blood…and yet you chose to defile yourself further,"

He was no longer a weak young boy who barely had any physical strength due to the lack of nourishment. He was Kanda Yuu, top model of Japan, a work out junkie, and unfortunate victim of his aunt's prejudice. He also had a habit of acting on his emotions, therefore it wasn't entirely unexpected that he launched towards his only surviving next of kin, fist raised and encouraged by the surge of anger that raced through his veins like fire.

* * *

"Hey," the young woman turned to her, "You're Kuroshi Reiichi, isn't that right?"

Reiichi eyed the servant who was ordered to stay with her warily, not wanting to let her guard down in case she too had some issue with non Japanese people.

"Yes.." she answered hesitantly.

"So it's true!" the girl chirped happily, clasping her hands in glee. "You're with obocchama!"

"…I am," Reiichi nodded slowly, noting that the girl—who looked around her age actually—was sparkling in that way she recognized as an action _Kanda Yuu_ fangirls tended to do.

"Oh! I want an autograph!" the other hastily patted her kimono to dismay, realizing there was no pocket for any paper or marker.

Reiichi only stood there awkwardly, not knowing what she was supposed to say. But at least the other girl wasn't being hostile, so she relaxed slightly. Reiichi gave a slight smile to her but she kept glancing towards the direction that Kanda had left anxiously, hoping that he'd return soon enough.

She was starting to feel uncomfortable and out of place at the Kanda household. First of all, the entire scene around her brought her back to the feudal ages, nearly, because everything was just so traditional—the thatched roofs, shojis, wooden floored passages…even the style of dressing in the area was just a stark contrast to the blouse and pants she was wearing.

"I didn't expect obocchama to come back…" the other girl suddenly spoke out loud. "Especially with all that…"

Reiichi turned to look at her. "What do you mean?" she enquired suspiciously.

The servant jumped slightly as though just realizing that she had spoken out loud and quickly covered her mouth. "S-sorry, I was just talking to myself," she apologized, bowing.

"Um," Reiichi paused, realizing that she forgot to ask one simple question. "What's your name?"

"I'm Shiranui Yasahiko!" the girl straightened up, smiling brightly.

"Right, Shiranui-san," Reiichi began, determined to find out whatever the girl knew. "What did you mean by 'especially with all that'?"

"I…" Yasahiko stuttered uncomfortably, eventually taking a deep breath and bowing deeply. "I'm sorry! I'm not allowed to talk about it!"

The redhead sighed, nodding, "I understand," she shuffled her feet slightly, trying to think of another way she could make the girl talk. "Can I…ask some questions then?"

"As long as it's within my means to answer it," Yasahiko replied.

"Then…what are the main and outer quarters?" she asked, remembering Kanda saying something about it.

"Ah," the servant girl nodded, starting to make some patterns in the dirt with her foot. "The household is divided in a few ways," she began, drawing a small box with two larger boxes below it, and a line cut between the two larger boxes to represent the pathway. "But the main division is between the direct line of Kanda, and the rest of the family,"

"The direct line consists of family members who were born from every generation's first son," she explained, pointing to the small box. "They live in the main quarters and manage the rest of the family. And the rest, including cousins and distant relatives live in the other quarters," she pointed to the other two larger boxes.

"Do all of them live here?" Reiichi asked curiously, suddenly realizing that Kanda belonged to a rather _big_ family.

"No, they don't," Yasahiko shook her head, "Only those who are managed by Kanda-dono personally stay in the household,"

"Oh," she said, then something dawned upon her. "Wait. You said the direct line includes only the family from the first son in every generation…but Kanda…he…" she stumbled, "…I mean…Iseki-san is his mother's elder sister…" she trailed off.

Luckily Yasahiko seemed to get what she was trying to express. "Yes, it was…necessary to make exceptions for some generations," she agreed. "Especially for obocchama, because Kanda-dono and Izayoi-sama were the only two daughters from the late Kanda-sama…and since Kanda-dono is unable to conceive—" the servant suddenly slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes widening.

"I..za..yoi…?" Reiichi frowned, thinking. "That's…Kanda's…mother," she breathed, blinking rapidly. "And Iseki-san is…unable to conceive?" she whispered as Yasahiko started to shake her head frantically, but the gears in her head were spinning rapidly and jumping to whatever possible ideas that were being churned out. "Is that why Kanda was abused?" she demanded angrily, "Just because she was unable give birth to her own son—"

"No!" Yasahiko blurted out hurriedly. "Kanda-dono was never jealous of Izayoi-sama! She loved her sister more than anyone else!"

It was quiet for a few moments.

"Kanda-dono is not…a bad person," the servant whispered finally.

"But Iseki-san…she…" Reiichi choked, gripping her own fists tightly, "...what she did to Kanda…I…I _cannot_—" she stopped abruptly. "Tell me why," she said finally. "Tell me why you think Iseki-san isn't a bad person,"

"Kuroshi-sama," the girl shuffled her feet uncomfortably. "I've already said more than I'm supposed to—"

"Please," Reiichi murmured. "_Please_,"

"What I know…is mostly a rumour, because I was not there to witness it myself," Yasahiko eventually spoke, voice low and quiet. "But it is the closest to the truth you can get without asking Kanda-dono herself,"

Reiichi nodded, listening.

"During the war, Kanda-dono protected Izayoi-sama and of result, lost her ability to conceive,"

"…How?"

But Yasahiko shook her head, not wanting to elaborate. "I do not believe Kanda-dono who placed her life above Izayoi-sama's is a bad person at heart, even if she is strict,"

During the war.

War. The second world war.

Amercian. Bristish. French.

Foreigners.

Protected Izayoi-sama. From what?

It was slowly starting to paint a picture, but she was missing a brush.

Perhaps it was true that Iseki loved her sister more than anyone else, but why would she abuse her sister's own son?

Because of his blood? His blood that wasn't pure—

_Stay with Yuu._

Lavi's voice rang in her head.

_Stay with Yuu._

Indeed, what was she doing? She was standing outside the household trying to dig out answers from a servant girl who was forbidden to say much to her. Shouldn't she be _with_ Kanda trying to find the answers? Wasn't that what she promised Kanda? That she'd be there if he needed her. Especially if Kanda should be the one to know all of this firsthand…

She had to go.

"Thank you," she bowed to Yasahiko, giving the other a half smile. "I appreciate what you told me," she added, twisting her fingers grimly before taking a deep breath. "But I'm sorry about this,"

She slipped through the gate, taking off down the long pathway that Kanda had disappeared to.

"Don't—!"

She could vaguely hear Yasahiko calling her to stop, but she couldn't find it in her heart to listen even if she knew this was going to cause the other girl in trouble.

_Stay with Yuu._

* * *

"Get the fuck off me!" Kanda screamed, trying to shove whoever it was holding him down—there were at least three pairs of hands that grappled with him as he struggled. "I said, get the—"

The sharp smack of a whip against the wooden floor caused him to clam up suddenly, the familiar chill settled in the pit of his stomach when he realized his aunt was holding the very familiar thin cane.

"Brat," Iseki growled, "Quit making a racket like some petulant child,"

"Let go of me," he hissed back in return, continuing to struggle.

In his anger, he had impulsively launched to do some kind of severe damage to the one who brought him so much _pain_—but before he actually landed a hit, he stopped himself. Why? Why did he stop? He didn't know. But the next thing he registered was people hauling him down and trying to pull his arms back.

"How immature of you," she snorted, watching him struggle more violently and she calmly stood up. "Do you need another lesson?"

Kanda growled lowly.

"I thought you at least learnt obedience," his aunt continued, frowning. "But your _mother_," she said coldly, "never listened to me either. And look where she ended up,"

Kanda lunged forwards in retaliation, but he was still being held down. "You…you…_bitch_," he snarled.

Iseki narrowed her eyes, and raised her right hand, ready to strike. "How dare you—"

Suddenly the shoji slammed open and everyone turned to the open door in shock where one redhead was holding the frame tightly and breathing heavily.

"Kanda!" Reiichi blurted out, lips parted in horror at how he was being held by three other men whilst his aunt—she guessed from the only other female present that it was her—was standing threateningly over him with the intention to hurt him—"What are you doing?" she demanded, meeting Iseki's stare evenly, "He's your _nephew_!"

"And I treat him as I deem fit," Iseki replied harshly, lowering her hand. "Who are you?" she hissed, turning her attention towards the newest intruder.

"Rei—" Kanda began, voice urgent with a slight tremble. "Get the fuck out of here," he breathed, eyes starting to widen in panic.

"Tell me, who are you?" his aunt stepped closer to Reiichi whom didn't seem like she had heard him at all.

"Listen to me," Kanda tried again, struggling harder than ever against the people grabbing him down. "Rei—"

"I'm Kuroshi Reiichi," Reiichi clenched her fists determinedly, although her legs had started to shake involuntarily at the way Iseki was advancing upon her, for she now knew what the word _intimidating_ actually meant.

A light of recognition was evident in Iseki's eyes at the mention of her name. "Kuroshi…" she murmured, rolling the word with distaste. "Are you half?"

"…Yes," she answered clearly, trying not to falter at the obviously disgusted look Iseki was eyeing her with.

"I see,"

Kanda watched them warily, for the sequence of events was not exactly going like what it had in his dream.

"You're soiling my floor," Iseki made to pull the shoji close, but Reiichi held on fast. "Girl…" she narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Get out," she growled. "You have no place here,"

"No," Reiichi made sure the door stayed open with as much strength as she could. "I'm with Kanda. Let him go,"

It happened so fast that it was merely a blur, but Iseki slapped her across the face so hard that her skin stung and she instinctively covered the steadily reddening sore area with her palm, wincing at the pain.

Kanda only stared, lips parted in shock.

"Insolence…" Iseki muttered, "Mizushima!"

The older servant appeared by the door. "Yes, Kanda-dono?"

"Throw her out," she ordered.

Mizushima bowed, disappearing for a few seconds and returning with two men. "The girl," she pointed.

Reiichi was too stunned to move, unable to believe that someone she barely knew actually slapped her across the face. It was much harder than what Matsumoto had pulled on her the other time.

"Don't you dare fucking touch her!" Kanda hissed, pulling at his hold with more ferocity than ever. "Don't you fucking dare—"

It seemed like everyone was ignoring him. One of the men roughly grabbed Reiichi's arm, and something inside Kanda _boiled_. He kicked and tripped whoever it was restricting his movement, lunging for the one who didn't believe his threat—and he gripped the neck of that person's tightly, slamming him down on the floorboards, and the dull crack of _something_ didn't even bother him.

"I said," his hands were shaking so hard with anger, "Don't _touch_ her,"

For a still minute, no one dared to breathe.

Reiichi bent down slowly, her own trembling hand touching Kanda's shoulder first. "Let him go," she said softly, feeling him relax slightly under her touch. "You're choking him,"

Indeed, the unfortunate victim was pawing at his grip on the neck.

"He deserves it," he muttered, training his death glare hard on the man. His grip didn't wane.

"Kanda, please," she murmured, trying to smile at him, but her cheek was still sore.

Reluctantly, he let go, turning to her with the most worried expression she ever saw on him—eyes trailing on the red mark on her face, then sweeping down her body to check if she was okay, lips set to a grim line and eyebrows knitted together.

"Leave us," Iseki suddenly commanded, and other servants standing around shuffled out, the one on the ground helped out after much difficulty. "Brat," she turned to him, frowning. "Out,"

"What the—"

"Out," she repeated firmly.

"No," he hissed, glaring daggers at the other. He stood up to step in front of Reiichi protectively.

"Mizushima," Iseki snapped, and the shoji slid open again. "Send him out,"

"Understood,"

"Wait!" Reiichi cried, trying to step in front of Kanda but he pushed her back, "Don't you have something to show Kanda?"

Iseki leveled her with a stern look. "He is not willing to upkeep his side of the bargain; therefore I see no more use of him,"

"…Use?" Reiichi echoed, eyes narrowing in fury. "Your _nephew_ is not some tool that you—"

"Rei," Kanda growled softly, but it was enough for her to stop and cool down. "What do you want with her?" he demanded.

"Just a word," his aunt replied, looking impatient and ready to call people to throw him out.

They exchanged heated glares for a moment.

"If you lay another finger on her—"

"I hate repeating myself, boy," she said coldly. "Leave, before I throw you out,"

Reiichi grabbed his arm before he was tempted to do _something_ in retaliation. "I'll be okay," she said.

He gave her a look that plainly said he didn't believe a single word she said.

"Look," she sighed, speaking in soft tones. "She'll get her way either way, so—"

"The girl is right," Iseki added, settling down into the sitting position. "This will be the last time. _Leave_,"

Kanda scoffed, stepping out of the room angrily and slamming the door shut behind him hard, causing the frame to rattle. His shadow sat down right at the door, refusing to move. It was obvious that he would be able to hear whatever that would transpire in the room, and Iseki knew and ignored it.

Reiichi bit her lip, suddenly realizing that being in one room alone with Iseki was one of the most terrifying things she ever experienced. The lady was sitting calmly at her area staring piercingly at her with black eyes that seemed to judge everything about her.

"Sit," Iseki ordered, and she obeyed tucking her legs in that uncomfortable position.

Silence filled the room after that, and Reiichi tried her hardest not to fidget under the other's gaze.

"You were inexplicably rude to disobey my request to leave my household," Iseki began, "And it's from a mud blood even,"

"I…" Reiichi breathed deeply, steeling herself for insults she knew she would be peppered with, "I apologise for my audacity," she bowed, knowing that she _had_ been disrespectful, because Iseki was older and certainly above her in status.

"Hmph," the other snorted, narrowing her eyes, "Tell me…why are you here?" she demanded.

"To accompany Kanda," she replied steadily, although her heart was thumping uncontrollably.

"And what were you trying to accomplish?" Iseki pressed on coldly. "A share of the inheritance? Recognition? Social standing?"

Reiichi breathed deeply, keeping her cool. "You said that you'd tell Kanda about his parents,"

"Irrelevant!" Iseki snapped. "The brat has refused. So have I,"

"But that's unfair," she gripped her fists tightly, "Kanda has the _right_ to know, not for it to be used as a threat,"

"The brat doesn't have any rights,"

Reiichi stared, fisting her hands and pressing them against her lap in an attempt to keep calm. "You loved Izayoi-san," she whispered. "How could you ever treat Kanda—"

"How do you know about my sister?" Iseki lowered her voice to the point that it chilled her bone. "The brat doesn't even know her name," she hissed, glaring at her threateningly. "Who told you?"

"I-I heard some people talking when I ran here," she answered quickly. "They said that you protected Izayoi-san during the war,"

"She was my sister!" Iseki snarled, as if offended that she would suggest that she wouldn't have protected her. "And that foreigner _scum_—" she hissed.

"The soldiers hurt you," Reiichi mumbled, pieces of the puzzle coming into place. "Because of the war, you hate outsiders,"

"They destroyed our land, our water," Iseki glared. "And our blood," she continued hatefully, "You don't know how much my sister suffered with that man. She wasn't herself the moment she decided to get involved with that trash, only talking about him, forgetting the pride we held as _Kanda_,"

Reiichi shook her head. "She loved him,"

"It wasn't love!" the older woman spat. "My sister would have had a happier life with the husband that our parents chose. But no, she never listened to us. She ran away with him and years later she came back alone with a new born,"

"Kanda…" the redhead widened her eyes in realization, but Iseki ignored her.

"She kept saying he'd come back. She waited three years," the older woman, hissed. "_Three_. He didn't,"

"Maybe…maybe he had a reason—"

"He _died_," Iseki bluntly stated.

Reiichi paused. "…What?" she murmured, but Iseki refused to explain any more. "Iseki-san," she began, biting her lip. "You have to tell Kanda the rest of this. Please," she continued, "He needs to know,"

"I already said more than enough,"

"Kanda-san…" she whispered bowing low. "Please,"

Iseki only frowned deeper at her, but she kept her head down. For nearly five minutes there was utter silence, as though it was a test to see how long Reiichi could keep the uncomfortable position up—and it was difficult to ignore the stinging sensation on her cheek where she was slapped—but she held on, hoping, just hoping—

"It's such a disgrace," Iseki eventually muttered, "that the brat got someone like you to beg for him," her words stung, but Reiichi breathed deeply to keep her cool, eyes still trained on the tatami flooring.

"I will show him what he came here for on one condition," the older woman finally said, training her hard gaze upon her. "Leave the boy," she stated.

Reiichi felt her skin go cold.

"Leave him and disappear from his life," the other continued. "He doesn't need his blood to be tainted any further than it already is,"

Another long stretch of silence ensued, but it was the total opposite regarding Reiichi's train of thought. She knew she would not be accepted, since she already expected Kanda's aunt to have certain prejudices...but to be told to _leave_ him was something else. And to do it _voluntarily_ was also another issue.

The problem was now that she had a choice.

It wasn't exactly a fair choice, but it was still a choice nonetheless. She had the option to disagree, to stay with him, but in return he might lose something that he could never find again. It was either for her, or for Kanda.

"Well?" Iseki demanded when she deemed the redhead was taking too long to answer.

"I…" Reiichi mumbled, trying to find words to say.

_I can't_.

She couldn't. Eight months into their relationship hadn't been merely time passing by. It had been a journey of growth. Her feelings had grown deeper throughout the months—it was past the point of physical attraction, or just how much he meant to her, but also it became a sort of _need_ for his presence in her life. Kanda was part of her life now. He was always there with her throughout the days, and she couldn't imagine living without him. But if she was the barrier to something that he had been searching for for so many years… and it was something _she_ could do for him…

"I…I…" she shut her eyes, " I…." she already regretted the words that she forced herself to say, "I understand,"

Suddenly the shoji slammed open for the countless time of the day, and Reiichi realised she had forgotten Kanda had been sitting outside the room all along.

"You…_you_," Kanda was glaring at her furiously, "What are you saying?" he demanded, kneeling down and grabbing her shoulders to force her to look at him. "What the fuck did you just say?"

Reiichi tore her gaze guiltily to the floor, feeling more sick each passing second, "Because..."

"Repeat it," he hissed, gaze boring right at her.

She couldn't. Not again. She kept her head down, even if Kanda's tight grip on her started to hurt her shoulders, even if tears started to well up at the corner of her eyes, but she couldn't say anything, because she knew she would take back her words in a heartbeat.

"Reiichi,"

She heard him murmur her name—her full name—and that was all it took for her tears to slip down.

"Why are you doing this?" Kanda sounded unsure, scared, unable to understand—so different from the Kanda she knew—and for a moment she wasn't sure if it was his voice.

"This is…" she answered trying to keep her voice steady, "what you've been looking for… so…"

"It's also not what I want," he stated, relaxing his grip on her so that he could slide his hands down to her elbows, squeezing slightly in hopes that she would look at him.

Slowly, she did, and he saw that her gaze immediately flickered to his aunt's once before looking back at him.

"She refuses," Kanda announced for her—them—flatly, narrowing his eyes at his aunt.

"It's not up to you, brat," Iseki answered coolly, though the expression of disgust on her features got darker. "Equivalent change," she said, "I already said more than I should have. She owes me for that,"

"Even the name of my mother which you didn't bother to tell me?" Kanda steeled her with his glare. "The deal," he growled lowly, "was that if I came here, you'd give me whatever you said you would," he said evenly. "Not whether I accepted your proposal or not,"

Iseki frowned for a moment, then she returned the glare with as much feeling. "I said nothing about telling you about your mother's name,"

"Rei would have told me about it," he countered, gritting his teeth. "You used her,"

"And justly so," his aunt snorted, not at all abashed.

Kanda couldn't _believe_ the nerve of his relative. "_She_," he started out harshly, "is not—"

"Kanda-san," Reiichi interrupted quietly, causing both Kandas to turn to her, but she was still bowing towards the older female. "If you promised Kanda your word, I request that you honor it,"

She could practically feel Iseki burn a hole in her with the way the older's eyes flamed. "You dare insinuate that I—"

"On your honor," Reiichi repeated firmly.

Kanda watched warily as Reiichi stood her ground next to him, head lowered as a sign of respect but also posture determined. He could never understand how she could do this for him—practically _begging_—because he could never bring himself to submit to the will of his aunt ever again, even if it was something he was searching for all his life.

Iseki had gone quiet, eyes critically piercing the redhead and lips set in a taunt line. Reiichi had struck the deepest nerve for the older woman—pride and honor, especially on the family name. It was well played.

"….This isn't over," Iseki finally muttered grudgingly. "One hour," she stated, "That's all I am giving you. After that, leave my premises or I will throw you out,"

Reiichi raised her head, a small smile on the corner of her lips. "Thank you,"

"Brat," Iseki eyed her nephew who was merely blinking in disbelief. "Before you turn twenty one," she warned dangerously, "We'll have a little chat about your place in the family,"

"I don't want it," Kanda muttered, and Reiichi prodded him to keep his voice down. He settled for glaring.

"The next time," his aunt continued, throwing a hateful look at Reiichi who kept her features calm, "I expect that the name Kuroshi Reiichi does not exist in your life," she snapped.

* * *

Once out of that room, it felt unreal. Surreal, even.

It just felt like it had been such an impossible task that once accomplished, seemed too good to be true. And surely, for Kanda, the feeling might even be more intense, Reiichi mused, as they both trailed after Iseki's servant, Mizushima, deeper into the compound, behind the main building and past a large garden littered with lotuses in the pond.

Gingerly she touched her sore cheek—wincing slightly and hoping that wasn't a bruise visible after the hit. She felt Kanda gaze at her for a few moments, but he only averted his eyes and clenched his fist tighter, continuing to walk.

Soon they reached the corner of the compound, where a large willow tree stood in the middle, and several tomb stones were arranged neatly. Mizushima stopped, bowing slightly, and reluctantly, to them both.

"One hour, as specified by Kanda-dono," she related before leaving.

Her steps quickly faded away, and the surrounds fell into silence, except for the occasional nature sounds and light breezes. Kanda was staring at the nearest tombstone wordlessly, and Reiichi flickered her gaze to read the writing on it.

_Kanda Izayoi_

It was simple. Just a name, no description or writing. In fact, the tombstone was relatively simple as compared to the others behind which looked more elaborate, but what stood out was that there was a black lacquered box placed in front of it.

Kanda slowly knelt before the tomb, and so did she, staring ahead because she didn't know if she could bring herself to watch whatever expression Kanda had on at the moment. It would be too private to witness. Just for a few minutes, Kanda didn't move until he reached out to the box and brought it closer to him, lifting the top and settling it down beside.

There was a folded brown piece of paper that unveiled itself as the cover was removed, and Kanda picked it out, only to find that where were still more papers underneath. All of them were scrawled with hasty calligraphy or pen, but the handwriting was obvious that it was written by one person.

At first Reiichi didn't know what they were until Kanda started to read them—and as he put aside one by one she realised that they were letters, all signed off with the same signature,

_Raphael Andre Roux_

Kanda finally reached the second last letter, and stared at it for a while at the addressee.

_Yuu-kun,_

It was for him.

_Yuu-kun,_

_When you read this, I am sure I won't be around anymore. I am writing this in case I do not make it back from this war. I don't know how long this has stretched, but I'm sorry, for not being there as you grow up. I'm sorry I wasn't able to send a single letter for the years you've been along with mama because there's no way for me to send one._

_Every day I pray for this to end in hopes that I can return back to you. I know wasn't there was you said your first word, or took your first step, but remember this: I was there when you were born. I still remember the joy I felt in holding you, newborn, fragile in my arms, and I knew I would love you forever. _

_I'm sure you hate me, for leaving you and mama behind. _

_I love you, my beautiful boy. Don't ever think otherwise. _

_Take care of mama, okay? _

_Love her for me._

And the final letter, in stark contrast to the ones he'd read before, this one was written carefully on calligraphy paper, and the handwriting was also neater, and a lot more feminine.

_Yuu,_

_I write this in the days that I am feeling weaker, and I know I don't have much longer left to live. You were too young to understand, please forgive me for leaving you behind back then, because I didn't have a choice. I didn't want you to see the illness eating away at my flesh. _

_I left you in onee-sama's care. Don't hate your oba-sama. Onee-sama is strict. I know. But we're family after all. _

_I'll join your father first, but you'll live for us, won't you? _

_I love you._

_Always._

He let the short letter fall on his lap.

There was just too much to think. Too much to know.

His father, _father…_for the first time ever in his life, he realised he actually _had_ one. Of course, he knew, as it was obvious he had to come from somewhere, but he could _feel_ it this time. His father, a French soldier, drafted for war a few months after he was born…and then three years later, killed in the bombings.

He could vaguely remember the first few years of his life…until when he was nearly four, when his mother suddenly disappeared from his life. He had forgotten that day when he woke up and realized he was all alone in the compound, and then he was forced to move to that room that was constantly kept shut. He always thought he had been alone since the day he was born—and now to learn that his mother had passed away due to sickness…

But the least she could have done was to tell him. Even at that young age, he should have been told, because it was better than living the rest of his life thinking that he existed out of nowhere, accused of murdering his own mother…

It was too late, of course.

Now there was only the tombstone, a reminder of her, and the letters, the reminder of his father that was left in this world.

He breathed deeply, feeling the cool breeze on his skin. But somehow, he felt lighter. Just knowing…he felt lighter.

Turning sideways, he looked at Reiichi who was kneeling still beside him, gaze respectfully on his mother's tombstone and it seemed like she was in deep thought. Her eyes were soft, lips set into a small sad smile. On her cheek there was a bruise beginning to swell, and his heart clenched tightly at that. Unsteadily he reached up to touch it, and Reiichi blinked, turning to meet his eyes.

Somehow, Kanda's eyes just seemed _clearer_, like it was made out of dark navy glass. She could see his gaze travelling over her face, resting on the sore spot before he brushed a gentle thumb over it, almost like apologizing, before he looked back directly into her eyes.

"I…" He trailed off, unable to find the words to express what he felt. Gratitude. Guilt. Regret. Relief.

Reiichi only wrapped her fingers around his, pressing it to her cheek. She smiled, nodding once, indicating that she _knew,_ and he didn't need words to sound them out.

* * *

The hour had gone by quickly, and soon footsteps were heard and they knew their time was up. Kanda collected the letters and placed them back neatly into the lacquer box, taking the box with him as he stood up. Mizushima eyed it, but didn't say anything as she led them out the gate, bowing once before closing the metal door.

Suddenly, it felt so different to be staring at the metal doors as compared to this afternoon before they went in.

For a few moments, both of them stood silently at the gate.

Reiichi wasn't sure what was running through Kanda's mind, but in that household she had a lot to think about. She came because she wanted to do something for him, be there when he needed her, and today, she realised that even though Kanda never said anything, but she was more important to him than she realised.

Call it self sacrificial that she had been willing to leave him for his sake, but it merely showed that she wasn't selfish enough to be with him forever. And Kanda was.

During the time when Kanda was reading the letters, she thought about it. About how much that decision had shocked her, and eventually, she knew that given the choice again, she probably wouldn't have answered it the same way. It was because staring at Izayoi's tombstone, she came to understand what being by him meant—and she was willing, no, she _wanted_ to do that as long as she could.

Kanda tapped her shoulder and cocked his head towards the pathway back home, signaling them to move on. The sun had already begun to set, colouring the sky a deep orange. She stepped forwards to go, but she remembered she had something to say. She tugged at his sleeve, and he glanced at her.

"I love you," she said simply.

He stared back at her for the longest time without saying anything, and that started to make her feel self conscious.

"I-I just thought you should know," she added, a blush arising on her cheeks.

Kanda placed a hand on her shoulder for a second, looking as though he was going to say something but then decided against it, turning away to continue down the road. She hurried up to match her pace with him, but she noticed he was looking at her at the corner of his eye, a faint upward curl on his lips.

* * *

**Owari.**

IT HAS TAKEN SO LONG. I KNOW. I HAVE MANY EXCUSES, BUT I DON'T THINK YOU WANT TO HEAR THEM :X

Firstly, I want to say that any Japanese tradition I write here such as Kanda being 20 and hence supposedly becoming the house head, arranged marriages, Iseki's power and all that is all FICTION. That is, I do not know if the customs are true or not. I wrote them as such because then the plot makes sense, as much as I had to bend the actual rules.

Messy chapter? Yes. There were a lot of things I was trying to express in this chapter, and there were more things that were added in unintentionally. Like the Reiichi's glasses fetish was just written in because it's so fun to tease the hell out of her XD And the hickey thing was also not intended, but it seemed like Kanda just _had_ to do it and again, Reiichi suffers more embarrassment :D It was useful though, because it led to her friends' phonecall (again, was never intended) and it helped with one theme: Love.

Before this chapter, I tried to write how Reiichi _likes_ Kanda to a very great extent, but it's not fully _love_. (She never said 'because I love you', but always 'because I like you,') That's why her feelings mature to love at this point for him, so that they can have a future together. Yay.

Then there's Kanda's troublesome past. I hope I explained that well enough.

Do you know how difficult it is to write an emo-y Kanda? I TRIED, PEOPLE. I know he's quite clingy and touchy but forgive the man. He has troubles. D

For this extremely long chapter (43 pages!), please review? :D


	40. Chapter 37

Edited _02/06/11_: THIS IS JUST AN EDITED VERSION—FIXED UP GRAMMAR AND SPELLING MISTAKES BECAUSE ONE OF YOU POINTED ALL OF THEM OUT TO ME AND I FELT GUILTY FOR MAKING SO MANY MISTAKES. D:

* * *

**-Imitation Black-**

_Sip._

_Sip._

_Siiiiiip._

_What the hell is she doing?_

The dark blue eyed model strummed his fingers on the table impatiently, glancing at his watch every few seconds.

_Sip—_

Damn, his tea was all gone already. Looking at the clock for the millionth time—and that wasn't even an exaggeration—he stood up, unable to wait anymore. It was already _nine_, and usually they left the house before the hour hand even _touched_ nine. He had waited patiently because he knew Reiichi did oversleep, or sometimes had girl business to do, but it was never late enough like today. Striding down the corridor in fast steps, he reached her door quickly, rapping on it.

"Rei," he called, knocking faster and more impatiently with each passing second. "Rei!"

There was no answer.

"Woman!" he spoke up louder, for perhaps she might still be in the bathroom.

Still no answer.

"What the hell are you doing?" he muttered to himself, giving the door a final sharp rap. "I'm coming in!" he declared, remembering the last time he was shoved into her room unceremoniously that led to an awkward moment, but he barely paused to barge in anyway.

"Rei—" Kanda faltered when he saw he person he had been waiting for lying under the covers still on the bed.

He frowned, stalking closer. With a hand, he pulled the comforter off, revealing messy red hair that spilled over the pillow, face tucked to one side and hands gripping her head, knuckles white with tension.

"Rei…?" he trailed off uncertainly when he saw that she flinched the moment he lifted the covers.

Reiichi let her grip go slowly, eyes opening at his voice. Her pupils turned to look at him, and her mouth parted, almost as if to say something, but only a hoarse sound rumbled out. He reached forwards to pull her hands away, but the moment he touched her hand, he let go immediately.

It was burning hot.

Kanda set his lips in a taunt line, feeling her forehead this time. As expected, it was of way higher temperature than was healthy.

"….It hurts…" Reiichi whimpered, hands trembling and fingers curling around his wrist, weakly trying to take his hand off.

"Headache?" he questioned, and she nodded slightly, as though it took all her strength to answer him.

"I think you should see a doctor," he concluded, now trying to pull the comforter that she had tugged back off. "Get up, I'll bring you to the clinic."

Reiichi shook her head, eventually losing the tug of war battle of her blanket and shivered, trying to curl up.

"Rei," Kanda started off impatiently, narrowing his eyes. "You're obviously having a fever and I don't even need to take your temperature to know that," he tried to get her to at least sit up, "Hurry up," he demanded.

"I…don't want to…" the redhead mumbled with much difficulty, "Want to…sleep…just…"

He sighed in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose. Who knew she was so difficult when she was sick? He sat back scowling deeply at how she turned away from him, hands clutching at her head again, legs curled up in fetus position. He could see her frame shaking quite badly, and when she let out another whimper, he felt his heart squeeze rather painfully.

Damn this.

Okay.

Now what was he supposed to do?

Kanda wandered out of her room to rummage through the kitchen for a thermometer—he couldn't even remember the last time he fell sick, and so it was very fortunate that he found it in the first aid box. Taking a cloth he rinsed it under cool water and wringed, bringing it back to her room. She was hugging the comforter to herself like her life depended on it when he came back, and he growled in irritation.

"You're going to overheat if you keep doing that," he yanked it mercilessly away from her, placing the cool cloth on her forehead and pressing it down so that she won't try to take it off.

Nonetheless, she did try, but futilely, and he watched her eyes shut in obvious pain and discomfort, teeth biting her lower lip. He stuck the thermometer in her mouth, and thankfully she didn't spit it out or anything—he was prepared seeing that she was apparently a rather difficult patient—and soon the gadget beeped.

_39.2 degree Celsius._

Fuck, he thought faintly. "Doctor," he declared, tugging her arm to get her to get up, but she merely waved him away.

"If you don't get up," he hissed patience wearing thin, "I am going to carry you," he warned. "One."

Reiichi shook her head.

"Two."

"Don't…want…"

He scowled, sliding an arm underneath her body and the other beneath her legs, ready to move if she continued to resist. He grimaced when he realized exactly how much heat her body was emanating, and it was bordering on dangerous.

"Three," he pulled her closer, her head falling on his chest and she gripped the front of his shirt weakly.

"Please…" she mumbled, eyes screwed shut. "I don't want to…"

"Why not?" he demanded, staring down at her, halfway lifting her off the bed already.

Reiichi only let out a pathetic wince and clutched her head tighter, tears forming at the corner of her eyes. She turned so that her face was buried in the crook of his neck, fingers curling against his chest. Kanda paused, suddenly aware that she was being entirely not herself. His eyes softened for a bit at her frame, frowning at how she seemed so _weak_.

"Don't…want…"

He put her down, grumbling under his breath. Storming back to the kitchen, he searched for Panadol and took a cup of water back to her again. Hauling her to a sitting position—he realised by now that prodding didn't work—he pressed the cup of water into her hand, but her hand didn't even seem like it was gripping the cup, so he gave up eventually.

"Eat it," he commanded, putting the pill in her hand.

Reiichi only shook her head again.

"What," he narrowed his eyes, "You want me to feed it to you?"

She turned away.

"Rei," Kanda growled, "Why are you being so fucking difficult?" he demanded. "Are you trying to stay sick or something?"

She winced somewhere in between his words, and he knew his voice probably aggravated the headache she was having to an even worse level. Okay. Cool down. Chill.

"You have to eat this if you don't want to see the doctor," he started again, this time with a softer tone, bringing her hand up to her mouth.

"I can't..." Reiichi spoke unsteadily, "swallow pills…"

He swore out loud.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, lowering her head and curling up in a ball.

"No," he breathed in deeply, counting to ten. "At least drink the water," he nudged the cup against her cheek.

At least this time, she obediently drank a little as he held the cup, but all she managed was three sips before she turned away.

"Rei…" he warned, but she didn't respond.

She refused to see a doctor.

Then she can't take medicine.

What the hell can he do, honestly?

He set the cup down roughly on her bedside table, watching as she slid down the bed to attempt to go back to sleep. Here he was, worried out of his fucking mind for her health and she didn't even seem like she cared or not if she got better—choosing to hide away under her covers. How did she even take care of herself in the past when she fell ill? Or how did Lavi even take care of her—oh right.

Lavi.

Whipping out his handphone, he let out another string of curses when he noticed the time.

_9: 47 a.m._

Holy fucking _shit_—he was late for work for the second time in his life. But never mind that now. He noticed a few missed calls Lavi had already given him and he pressed the call back button.

"YUU! ARE YOU ALIVE? OR ARE YOU KIDDNAPPED? WHAT THE HELL—"

"Usagi!" he snapped immediately, regretting that he actually called the other.

"Are you with Rei-chan or something?" the other questioned suspiciously.

"Yes I am—"

The male redhead was positively _squealing_, for god knows what reasons. Probably his imagination. "OH MY GOD—"

"SHUT THE HELL UP AND LET ME TALK!" Kanda shouted in irritation, pacing about in the room.

Perhaps it was the tone of his voice, but Lavi shut his mouth with an audible click.

"Rei is sick," he began calmly, running his fingers through his hair.

"Is she okay?" Lavi's voice suddenly dropped lower, becoming more serious. "Is it a fever? Or a flu? Or—"

"Fever," the model replied, "and headache," he frowned. "But that's not the problem," he ranted, pacing faster, "She fucking refuses to see a doctor and her temperature is a god damn _thirty nine point two_," he growled, "and—"

"Just give her some Panadol," Lavi interrupted calmly, "Actually one pill should do the trick—"

"She can't swallow the stupid thing! She's fucking _twenty_ already—how the fuck has she even survived till now—"

"So?"

Kanda paused for a moment. "So?" he echoed angrily, "She can't take the damn medicine! How the fuck is she supposed to get better?"

"…Uh, Yuu?"

Kanda narrowed his eyes, ready to kill the rabbit just for the mocking tone of voice. "What?" he practically spat.

"You can crush the tablet you know," Lavi informed him, trying not to giggle—or laugh, "But I'm happy you're worrying so much about her," he sang, and Kanda could even hear the _grin_ in the other's voice. "So much that you're not even thinking!"

"Shut up," he hissed, face colouring with embarrassment at how he actually didn't think of such an obvious solution.

"Anyway, you might as well take care of her today," the male redhead continued, "It's better than letting everyone know you're _late_ _again_ with _Rei_-_chan_, hmm?"

"I—" Kanda spluttered, gritting his teeth. "Fuck."

"I'll come over when I tell the _Fred Perry_ representative of the oh so unfortunate circumstance," Lavi nodded satisfactorily. "Just try to get her temperature down as much as possible, and cook her some porridge—she might not even eat it, so I think you might need to feed her—"

Kanda cut him off sharply, rolling his eyes. "I know what to do, you idiot."

"Just making sure," his friend hummed. "Oh! And try not to kiss her or you'll catch her germs—"

He flipped his phone shut, cutting off the line. Turning back to Reiichi, she was now huddling her pillow over her head. The wet towel he had placed on her forehead now lay alone at the corner of the bed, most likely, she had taken it off. Muttering under his breath, he went to take spoons, and he pulled her chair closer to her bedside table so that he could crush the godforsaken _tiny_ pill that she couldn't swallow.

The pill flattened into powder easily under his strength, and mixing it with a bit of water, he made it into an emulsion of sorts. He honestly couldn't understand why she'd rather take such a disgusting bitter way to take medicine—the pill would've done the trick in seconds, without the taste. Once done, he glanced at her sleeping form.

"Come on," he prodded her, "Sit up."

She shifted a bit, but other than that she ignored him.

He set the spoon down and nearly ripped the pillow away from her. Her hands tried to take it back, but he tossed it to the other side of the room.

"If you don't eat this," he threatened, hauling her up against the bedstand again, forcing her hand to hold the spoon, "I'll force it down your throat."

Reiichi groaned, taking the spoon reluctantly and curled up with her knees to her chest, staring at the medicine. "It really hurts…" she mumbled, burying her head into her knees and shivering, and her hands were holding the spoon so unsteadily that he was sure she was going to spill the whole thing.

"So eat it, and you'll feel better," Kanda took the spoon, unable to stand seeing her in that state anymore. He lifted her head up by the chin. "Open your mouth," he growled, but she kept her mouth stubbornly shut.

"Shit, how does the usagi do this?" the model cursed the ceiling, the wall, or anything he could see in general. "Rei," he began, trying to keep his temper down because getting angry at a sick person was futile. "If you eat this, I'll…" he trailed off, thinking, "I'll give you your comforter back."

She seemed to consider, even in her probably delirious state.

"And your pillow," he added quickly, hoping that she'd take his offer.

Oh god, what was he doing? Bargaining with a sick person.

But it worked, because she opened her mouth and he shoved it in immediately, not wanting to let the chance slip by. She grimaced the moment the pseudo liquid entered her mouth, and he passed her the cup of water before she decided to spit everything out. Reiichi took a few gulps of water, handing the half empty cup back. She pointed vaguely to the floor where Kanda had threw her comforter to.

"I lied," he shrugged, amused at how she still had strength to glare at him unhappily, not before she attempted to take it back herself.

"You stay in bed," he frowned, pushing her down but she struggled. "God, will you just listen to me?" he demanded eventually, glaring at her.

"But it's…really…cold…" she mumbled.

"That's because your temperature is too high," he retorted, pressing her down on the bed. "Look," he sighed, "After your temperature goes down, I'll let you have it back," he was unable to believe how he was talking to her like she was a small child. "Here's your pillow," at least he gave that back to her.

She hugged it, turning to one side, already attempting to go back to sleep.

He rolled his eyes. Okay. Medicine, done. What else did the usagi say?

Bring down her temperature.

Eyeing the wet towel on the edge of her bed, he grabbed it and was mildly horrified at how the towel wasn't even cool anymore.

"Fuck," he swore, because that meant her fever was really serious.

Going to her bathroom, he rinsed it again, folding the cloth into a rectangle. "Rei," he prodded her again, taking the pillow out of her embrace much to her displeasure, and placing it beneath her head. "You're so fucking troublesome," he grumbled, moving her forcefully to lie chest up because she wasn't listening to him at all.

First he placed the cloth on her forehead for a few seconds, firmly discarding her weak protests, grimacing when the towel became warm within seconds. Oh yeah, she really needed to cool down. Refolding the cloth to a expose a cooler side, he started to press it around her neck, ignoring her flinching, moving it lower to her collarbone, then he realised her shirt was getting in the way.

Without much thought he made to unbutton her pyjamas, but when he was on the third button and he saw flesh that he hadn't seen before—hers, at least—he stopped, realizing that if she wasn't sick, she would've been flushing bright red and trying to push him away by now. He looked up and saw that her face was entirely too pale and that she was more concentrated on rubbing her temples then to pay attention to what he was doing—which was practically _stripping_ her.

No, he was definitely not going to take advantage of her state, as tempting as it was.

Grumbling for the nth time of the day, he pushed her shirt up instead to reveal her abdomen—which was even flatter then he remembered—did she lose weight _again_—but he was distracted by the amount of sheer heat her body seemed to emit. It was not healthy. Quickly he placed the cool cloth over her stomach a few times, again and again until he deemed it to be of a better temperature—but still not so.

Then he rolled her over, not that she struggled much, because he was so sure she was falling asleep already, and pulled her shirt farther up to reveal her entire back—no, he was not taking advantage of her, no he was _not_, even if it was the first time he was seeing this part of her body that seemed so delicate and smooth and—he had a good reason to do so anyway, so it was not taking advantage. At all.

Coughing, he tried to convince himself that it was for a good cause, and that it was entirely necessary, even if he _really_ wanted to leave a trail of marks on her bare skin—but he was digressing, before starting to wipe her back with the towel. Within three wipes, the towel itself was warm, and he had to rinse it again before continuing.

He sighed, watching her curl to one side, eyes closed and breathing faintly. After he decided it was enough of trying to bring her temperature down, he turned her back and placed the towel on her forehead, hand resting on it for a few moments.

The medicine was probably taking effect right now, since she wasn't grimacing in pain or anything, and her features looked a lot more relaxed as she slept. Brushing some wayward strands away from her face, Kanda's eyes lingered on her for a few more moments before he got up and cleared her table, taking the used spoons and cup, leaving her room to let her rest.

* * *

"Rei…." Kanda's exasperated voice was steadily rising in notches, "Are you going to eat?" he demanded, setting the bowl of porridge he had cooked down for the third time already—he was very tempted to use a tube and feed her at this point.

She only looked away.

"You want me to feed you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Normally, she'd be blushing profusely at his suggestion, but she wasn't normal now. In fact, he now thanked god how easy she was to live with—when she wasn't sick.

Gritting his teeth, he held one spoon to her mouth. "Open," he commanded, nudging it against her lips.

Inwardly, he was dying at what he was actually _doing_—he never fed anyone before, and certainly if the usagi caught him doing this he'd never live it down. But it was necessary, because his patient didn't want to fucking eat!

"What the hell do you want me to do?" he demanded eventually, glaring when she just refused to eat.

Reiichi was already sliding back down in hopes that she could continue sleeping.

"Oh no you don't," he pulled her back up, and she gave a small sound of protest. "If you don't finish this bowl," he threatened, "I swear to fucking god I will…" he trailed off, trying to think of a suitable threat. "I will throw all your stupid sickening sweet shit down the dustbin,"

Somehow, the threat just went past her, because she covered her eyes with her arm and turned to the other side.

"I'm not kidding."

Still no response.

"God dammit!" Kanda swore, setting the bowl down.

A roar of laughter coming from the doorway exploded, and a hand came to pat his back enthusiastically. "Oh Yuu-chan," the cousin of the stubborn patient gasped for air between his laughs, giggling madly, "You've got to be more patient with her!"

"Patient?" Kanda echoed, on the verge of strangling someone, just because. "She's so fucking stubborn—god, where the fuck were you?"

"I had to reschedule with the rep, remember?" Lavi answered easily, coming forwards to sit on Reiichi's bed. "And we're so booked this week, we'll have to do the shoot next month, and I tell you he wasn't happy at all."

"Hey Rei-chan," the male redhead cooed, brushing his thumb over her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

She didn't respond.

"Is that normal?" Kanda had to ask.

"The whole ignoring-I-don't-care-if-you're-there thing? Yeah," Lavi nodded, "She's like that when she's sick," and he was speaking from experience.

"It's a miracle how she even recovers," the model muttered, flopping himself into her chair and crossing his arms. "Why can't she just see a fucking doctor? Is she scared or some shit like that?"

"Of doctors? No, she isn't," the redhead answered. "I'm not quite sure though. If it's just fever, or a headache she usually won't go, unless it's something serious like vomiting or flu—"

"The next time, you're dragging her ass there—even if she doesn't want to," Kanda muttered, "I give up. You try and feed her—I don't care anymore."

"Nah, it's just you," Lavi shook his head, smiling. "You've got to coax her gently, you see," he nudged his cousin. "Come on Rei-chan, you've got to eat."

Reiichi mumbled something that neither of them could hear.

"Rei-chan~" Lavi sang, hugging her by the waist and pulling her up. Her head rolled to lean on his shoulder. "Now, say ahhh~" he raised the spoon to her mouth.

Kanda raised an eyebrow when Reiichi kept her mouth closed. "Right," he muttered sarcastically. "I'm sure it's just me."

Lavi wrinkled his nose. "Rei-chan," he whispered gently to her, "Yuu cooked this for you. You don't want it to go to waste, do you?"

"Not hungry," she replied, turning her body so that she could sleep on him.

"Do it for Yuu?" he nudged, "He's really worried about you, you know," he continued, "And he wants you to get better."

"But he…said…he didn't care anymore…"

Kanda sighed heavily in aggravation. "I swear to fucking god—"

"He does," Lavi continued on, "He just doesn't know how to express his emotions, you know that right?"

"What the fuck—"

"Come on, be a good girl," the male redhead ignored him, still sweet talking his cousin. "If you eat this we'll let you go back to sleep okay? Now, open your mouth. Ahh~n—"

And miraculously, she did.

Lavi grinned victoriously at his best friend. "See? You've got to baby her a little—then she'll listen to you."

"I'm not going to do that," Kanda scowled, turning away. He was slightly put off at how fast Lavi managed to get her to eat, as compared to the past fifteen minutes he had tried.

"How are you going to take care of her in the future, hmm?" Lavi smiled, easily feeding Reiichi who mechanically ate without much heart.

"She'd old enough to take care of herself," Kanda snorted.

"Not unless she's sick," his friend countered. "This isn't the worst that she can get, believe me."

"I'll fucking make sure she doesn't fall sick then," he sniffed.

The words settled in Lavi's ears for a few moments before he blossomed a large grin on his lips. That answer, even if Kanda had merely said it out of spite and the model hadn't realised what it actually meant but it was practically a declaration that Kanda was willing to be her keeper—in a sense.

"When _are_ you going to ask her?" Lavi mused out loud, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Ask her what?"

"To marry you," he answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Kanda spluttered, nearly falling out of the chair. "What?" he demanded in disbelief. "How the hell did you even reach that question—" on second thought, "Wait, don't even answer that."

"Aww, Yuu!" Lavi's grin stretched wider to accommodate the teasing element, "It's about time, don't you think so?"

"I'm fucking _twenty one_!" Kanda looked at him incredulously. "And she's—"

"So? Twenty one is a great time to get hitched!"

"You're insane," the model declared finally, but he knew that already.

"No, think about it!" Lavi went on, clearly excited at his own suggestion. "Remember your aunt said something about _Kuroshi Reiichi_ not existing in your life or something?" he ploughed on before Kanda even had the chance to affirm, "If she marries you, then she'd be _Kanda_ _Reiichi_! So technically—"

Kanda had already tuned the other out the moment the words _Kanda Reiichi_ hit his ears. Admittedly, it was rather…nice, because she officially _belonged_ to him—but marry? At this age? He'd have to ask her and all that—oh fuck, why was he even actually considering this seriously? There was no way he hell he was going to do that.

"Oh Yuu~ Whatcha' day dreaming about?"

"Shut up."

"Hey, your face is kind of red—"

"I'm _not_ fucking blushing—"

"I never said you were—"

"Just shut the fucking hell up!"

"Hmph," Lavi pouted, turning his attention back to Reiichi who was half dozing on his shoulder. "Ne, Rei-chan," he scooped another spoon for her, "Wouldn't you like to marry Yuu?"

Reiichi ignored him.

"I think…" Lavi started slowly, "She doesn't want to eat anymore."

"No shit Sherlock," Kanda muttered, eyeing the half eaten bowl.

"Well, at least she ate some of it," the male redhead frowned, setting the bowl aside. He placed her gently down on the bed, replacing the towel on her forehead and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Sleep tight, Rei-chan," he kissed her cheek lightly.

"Come on, let's leave her alone for a while," Lavi gestured to the other who looked like he was going to stay put in the room.

Kanda reluctantly got up and followed his friend out of the door, casting a back glance at Reiichi. Maybe he should have given her a blanket…

"Thanks, man," Lavi laid a hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes seriously. "For taking care of her," he cocked his head towards the now closed door. "I worry a lot when she falls sick because she cannot take care of herself at all—," Kanda gave an unimpressed snort, "but I think she's alright with you," he nodded firmly. "Though, you do need to learn more patience—"

"Whatever," Kanda shrugged, heading back to the kitchen because in trying to feed Reiichi, he hadn't actually eaten anything yet.

"You know…" Lavi started a mischievous glint in his eye, swinging an arm around the other, and Kanda knew anything else that was coming out of that mouth wasn't good. "Maybe if you went down on one knee and—hmrrrmph!"

* * *

Pain.

Pain.

PAIN.

Reiichi groaned, clutching her head and tossing about in bed because currently, it felt like someone was drilling a huge hole into her skull and it was practically resounding in her ears. She felt sticky and hot all over and it certainly wasn't helping her situation at all. She resisted the pain for a few minutes, but in the end it was too much to tolerate and she decided that she needed to do something about it before she went crazy.

Stumbling off the bed with slight difficulty, she swiped the packet of Panadol off her bedside and sat down, needing a few moments to remember how to walk again. Along the way, she paused and leaned against her door when a sharp jolt of pain streaked through her brain. She started to grumble curses that were more familiar out of Kanda's mouth, nearly slamming her door open in frustration.

The cool air hit her skin and it was slightly refreshing, but it didn't help to ease her headache at all. She needed to eat that bitter medicine so that the pain would go away. At least, she was able to register in her surroundings—a mob of red hair on the couch that was probably her cousin's and the light switch of the kitchen.

Water. She needed a cup of water.

She grabbed an empty cup from the cupboards despite her jerky movements, and attempted to pour water from the kettle.

Key word: Attempted.

She hadn't realised the kettle to be so heavy, or she had gotten weaker, but somehow she managed to drop the entire thing, causing a loud crash and split liquid that quickly started to spread around her feet. The sound hadn't really registered in her ears, and she didn't even know what to think, because the headache was steadily getting more painful and she squat down, slumping against the cupboards to knock her head repeatedly against the hard boards in hopes that the physical pain would override the pain that was seemingly inside her head.

"What are you doing?" a familiar voice sounded, and a hand was holding her head in place so that she couldn't do more physical damage.

Kanda stared, raising an eyebrow at the curious image. There she was, trying to knock herself out on his kitchen floor after spilling the entire kettle. She didn't answer, instead choosing to rub at her scalp vigorously in hopes that the action would actually do something.

He sighed, kneeling down fully. "Where does it hurt?" he asked, pulling her hands away firmly, but gently.

"Everywhere," she mumbled, squeezing her eyes tighter, "It just hurts…it really hurts…"

Kanda frowned, starting to rub her temples first, but she winced hard and flinched. "Stop moving," he stated, pressing even closer to her in case she tried to move away.

Reiichi made pained noises and clutched at his shirt, leaning her forehead on his shoulder. Kanda continued his actions until it seemed like she was starting to relax under his touch, then he moved towards the base of her neck and started to massage lightly there. That seemed to do the trick, because she started to lean entirely on him now, her hands winding around his waist to hug him almost comfortably.

"Better?" he asked, and she actually nodded in response, but she kept her eyes closed.

After a while Kanda paused, noting that she hadn't moved much in the past few minutes and glanced down. She was already asleep. Then it took another minute to realize what he was doing. He was sitting on his wet kitchen floor cradling his sick girlfriend to sleep in his arms in the middle of the night. He shifted so that he could hold her better, feeling her forehead. At least her temperature had gone down, he thought grimly, then he sighed and stared at her.

He just couldn't believe this.

Who knew Reiichi was so difficult to handle when she was sick? Who knew he was actually willing to do this for her?

Most of all, he was becoming _soft_.

But, he mused, lifting her off the ground easily and padding back to her room quietly noting that his stupid best friend had slept through the crash of his kettle, perhaps once in a while like this was okay. She was much weaker than he realised, and that despite how much she preferred her independence, sometimes she needed someone to take care of her.

And he was okay with being that person.

* * *

"Reiichi…" Lenalee tapped her foot impatiently on the floor, crossing her arms, "You're taking way too long in there!" she complained, frowning.

"I-I'm not done yet!" was Reiichi's panicked reply.

"I don't believe you!" the other impatiently tugged at the curtain that covered the dressing room, but unfortunately the girl inside was trying to keep it shut.

"Don't come in—"

But of course when faced against _Lenalee Lee_, it was obvious that the Chinese model would get her way. The younger girl's shriek of excitement was probably heard by every single person in the shopping mall.

"You are _so_ getting this," Lenalee declared firmly, nodding to herself.

In contrast, Reiichi paled and shook her head furiously. "No, definitely _not_."

They were arguing over a piece of swimsuit, or more specifically, a _bikini_. The background story ran as such: Lenalee had booked them—and that meant her, Kanda, Lavi and Allen—rooms at the newest hotel in town this weekend, claiming that they hadn't spent much time due to their busy schedules. Which was partially true, because she hadn't seen Allen in a while, and Lenalee only in passing in the offices.

It was just an overnight stay to have fun together, and of course her cousin agreed immediately. Kanda refused through and through to join in the happy mashing, but she thought it wouldn't hurt, so she agreed. That was when Lenalee started to babble excitedly about the things they could do—shopping, swimming, room service!—and then it was found out that she didn't own a swimming costume.

I mean, she couldn't even_ swim_, and thus it was entirely expected. But Lenalee didn't think so. Thus during a random weekday of the week, the model had practically dragged her off during one of her lunch hours to find one.

"It's too…much," Reiichi frowned, face slightly uncomfortable, looking at her own reflection in the mirror, "Or actually too _little_."

The swimsuits Lenaleee had forcefully passed her to try on in the changing room were—to her horror—pieces that barely covered anything, only the important parts. She thought perhaps a tank and shorts combination wasn't too bad, but apparently not in Lenalee's books. She had already tried on various colours and cuttings of various bikinis, ranging from embarrassing pink with frills to the more mature and sexier dark reds.

"Nonsense!" Lenalee sniffed, crossing her arms. "I think it's perfect."

The latest one that Lenalee had given her to try was perhaps, one of the more provocative ones. It was a deep green in colour that contrasted nicely with her pale skin, but it was a string back and the bottoms followed the curve of her hipbone.

"It's like practically just wearing my undergarments!" Reiichi groaned, grimacing. "In actual fact, it's even worse," she continued on before Lenalee could protest, "and, I don't even see why I have to get this when I'm not even going to touch the water."

"But you could sun tan!"

"I much prefer not having a tan," she added.

Lenalee scowled at how _dense_ Reiichi could be.

"Poor, poor Kanda-kun," the Chinese model sighed to herself, shaking her head.

"What has this got to do with Kanda?" Reiichi demanded.

Lenalee breathed in deeply. "Don't you want to thank Kanda-kun?" she asked sweetly. "For taking care of you last week."

"I do but—"

It was downright mortifying two days later when she had recovered and hazy memories started to flood back on how she behaved when she was sick in bed. With Lavi, it hadn't been anything embarrassing because Lavi was her cousin, the one who had grown up with her and used to her behavior.

But this time it was _Kanda_.

And especially, that time when he held her to sleep—

A furious blush erupted on her face just thinking about it, and it didn't help at all when she spotted Lenalee smirking at her through the mirror. And that was not all. Kanda had ditched work for the two days she was in bed—perhaps because Lavi insisted on being by her bedside and it wasn't like Kanda could model without his photographer—but when she returned to office after she recovered, all her colleagues were gushing about how _sweet_ Kanda could be. Only she knew how much he cursed and swore while feeding her.

But still, yes, it was kind of sweet.

She hadn't got the courage to thank him properly yet, but then again, Lavi had crashed over every day since then in case she fell sick again, and she hadn't had a chance to be alone with Kanda. But then, what has buying a swimsuit got to do with anything?

She voiced her opinion out loud.

Lenalee shook her head like she was talking to a very young and oblivious child. "Reiichi," she began, "If you wear this, I _guarantee_ Kanda will like it,"

"But…" Reiichi blinked, "I thought Kanda refused to come along with us?"

"Not anymore," The Chinese grinned, taking out her handphone to snap a quick picture aimed at the mirror whilst posing a victory sign with her fingers.

Reiichi yelped when she realized what her scheming friend was trying to do, and she quickly tried to take the phone from Lenalee, only that Lenalee had already foreseen this and jumped out of the changing room. The red head groaned loudly, knowing that she couldn't step out of the changing room wearing just…what she was wearing.

Lenalee came back in several seconds later, grinning hard.

"I," Reiichi declared firmly, crossing her arms, "Hate you."

"Love you too, darling," Lenalee chuckled at how her friend was trying so hard to glare at her, but because Reiichi's face was flamed red, the effect was slightly ruined. "It's just a bikini, Reiichi," The Chinese model commented, amused at how the other was clearly overreacting.

"B-but—I..Kanda…" Reiichi stuttered, now covering her face with her hands. "He…he hasn't even _seen_—" she whispered to herself, mortified, "Oh my god. I can't do this."

"What!" Lenalee exclaimed, not believing it. "You mean you haven't—Kanda-kun hasn't—" she searched around for a word, "…_stripped_ you yet?"

Okay, that came across a little…weird, but Reiichi got the point.

"No!" Reiichi nearly shouted, and Lenalee wasn't sure just how much more Reiichi could blush.

"I'm now very curious," Lenalee admitted, leaning closer to her friend. "What exactly have you guys done?" her eyes glinted excitedly. "I know for sure you guys haven't had sex yet—"

"Lenalee!"

"—But other than that, I can't trust anything that Lavi says," the model continued, grinning darkly.

"_What_ did Lavi tell you?" Reiichi demanded, freezing in horror.

"Nothing important that you want to hear," Lenalee waved it away easily. "So, you guys have kissed. Anything else other than that?"

"I…I…I'm not answering that," Reiichi shook her head furiously. "Can we _please_ drop this extremely awkward subject and never revisit it again?"

"Nope!" Lenalee smiled happily. "I am taking hostage of your clothes, Reiichi," she smirked, "So if you don't answer, you're never getting them back,"

"….Have I ever said how much I hate you?"

"Come on, Reiichi!"

"No."

"I'm your _girlfriend_! Girlfriends tell these kind of things to each other!"

"There's nothing like that in the rule book!"

"What rule book?"

"Exactly my point!"

Lenalee frowned. "Fine. Since you don't want to talk, I'll ask you the questions, and you nod or shake your head," she decided, moving on even before Reiichi answered. "First base. Yes or no?"

Reluctantly, the redhead slid her embarrassed gaze toward the floor. Didn't Lenalee already know the answer? She hesitantly gave a slight nod, wishing so hard she could knock herself out against the wall now.

"Good girl," The model grinned. "Now, second base. Yes or no?"

There was a long stretch of silence.

To Lenalee's major shock, Reiichi actually _shook_ her head.

"_WHAT_?" The model's scream of disbelief was exceedingly loud, and Reiichi had to cover her own ears for auditory protection. "_WHAT_!"

"Lenalee!" Reiichi half pleaded with the other girl to keep her voice down. "This is why I don't want to tell you!" she groaned, covering her face.

"But you've been with Kanda-kun for ten months," Lenalee started to babble, "_Ten_ months. Ten months!" she cried, almost horrified. "And you're telling me you guys haven't…haven't—"

"We haven't," Reiichi sighed. "He just…_didn't_. Is there something wrong about that?" she asked quite defensively.

"Not really…" Lenalee answered slowly. "Just that…just that…" the model eventually smiled softly. "It's just that Kanda-kun is more scared to rush you than I thought," she smiled harder, "But it just means you have to correct those feelings right?"

Reiichi was just outright confused as to where Lenalee was going, until she saw the glint in the younger girl's eye.

"You're definitely wearing this."

* * *

"I know what you're trying to do, and let me tell you, it's not working," Allen said between mouthfuls of food, glaring at the person sitting across him.

"What?" Lavi questioned innocently, holding his hands up in surrender. "What am I trying to do?"

The white haired boy merely ignored him, stabbing his grilled beef quite viciously in annoyance.

"I'm just asking you a perfectly normal question," Lavi said, grinning.

"If by _perfectly normal_, you mean asking me the same question twenty three times since our food came—and I don't even know what you're doing with your eyebrows," Allen stated flatly, looking quite pointedly at how the redhead was waggling his said features.

"That's because you're not telling me the truth!" the other whined loudly, banging his chopsticks on the table.

Kanda groaned, wondering why the hell he was forced into having lunch with two annoying brats who clearly didn't know the meaning of peace and quiet. "Will you two just shut the fucking hell up?" he demanded angrily, because he actually had to pause in his partake of soba.

"Ne, Yuu," Lavi turned to him, looking unaffected. "Do you like Lena-chan?"

"No," he immediately snapped.

"See!" the redhead turned towards the youngest boy, "Perfectly normal question. I even asked Yuu, and he _answered_."

"That doesn't even mean anything!" Allen cried, frustrated. "You are doing the same thing you tried—and still are—doing to BaKanda and Reiichi—and let me repeat," he gritted his teeth. "The keyword is _try_."

"Dude," Lavi rolled his eye, "You're like, the only constant guy in her life with Komui around, and you eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with her every day, and you've got to be outright lying if you don't think she's a total strike since Miss Cloud Nyne—"

"So you admit it," Allen frowned.

"Admit what?"

"That you're trying to do something funny with Lenalee and I," the younger boy frowned harder, clearly disturbed at this newfound information.

"Well yeah," Lavi nodded without much shame. "Even Yuu is in it with me."

Allen gave Kanda a horrified look that couldn't be described, and Kanda nearly choked on his noodles.

"I will never be with your stupid plans," Kanda scowled, unhappy that he was being dragged into this useless conversation. "So leave me out of this."

"But you agreed when I told you about the super duper epic scheme of _Allena_!" Lavi pouted.

"What the fuck is _that_?" The model gave the other incredulous look, of which Allen mirrored.

"Pah you two," Lavi sniffed, offended. "It's a pairing name," he explained for the other two dummies. "Like Kanchi? Except its Allen and Lenalee now, so it's _Allena_."

"Che," Kanda snorted, turning back to his meal, "I don't care what you want to do to the brat—but leave me out of this."

"I am disturbed," Allen said with a terse smile. He was so outdone; he couldn't even bring his meat to his mouth. "I am _deeply_ disturbed," he narrowed his eyes before Lavi could protest. "Firstly, I am not the only constant male in her life. There's you and Jerkface—"

"Fuck you—"

"Secondly, I'd like to _thank_ you," the white hair boy rolled his eyes, passionately. "Because Komui is _harassing_ my life about his dearest precious daughter ever since we stalked Kanda on his date—"

"What the fuck—"

"Thirdly, I do not eat breakfast, lunch or dinner with her every day. Only once every two weeks," he continued on blithely. "And Lenalee is pretty, obviously," he gave Lavi a pointed look. "She's a _model. _But that's beside the point," he huffed indignantly. "I'm just her friend! Anymore than that is _not_ healthy for my safety!"

"What the fuck did you mean about stalking me?" Kanda couldn't sit back anymore.

"Lavi recorded the times when you brought Reiichi to that dessert café, and everyone in your office has probably watched them already," Allen smiled, ignoring the panicked glances Lavi was sending him. Too bad.

"Usagi—" Kanda turned to his—now questionable—best friend, hissing. "Fuck—what the _fuck_—"

"Um, Yuu, put that knife down…" Lavi eyed the dangerous grip the model had on the piece of cutlery. "Please put it down—"

"Right after I gut your existence from this godforsaken world!" Kanda snarled right back, unable to believe that _shit_, all the times he thought he was in private with Reiichi was actually not.

"For once, I am on Kanda's side," Allen smiled in that creepy way of his. "Please, do it."

"Moyashi-chan!" Lavi cried indignantly, because his life was clearly in danger. "But you know what?" he smirked at the other. "You didn't deny that you didn't want to be more than just friends—"

"Oh for the Lord's sake—"

"—and I'm going to make sure _something_ happens this weekend," he gave a look to the younger boy. "Believe me,"

"Why? Because you're _Lavi_?"

"_Duh_, of course because I'm Lavi—"

Kanda got distracted by his phone vibrating in his pocket. Seeing that the other two were too caught up in argument to notice him—Lavi clearly had already forgotten his death threat—he lower the knife for a moment and pulled out his phone. A message from Lenalee.

_Changed your mind yet?_

Attached was a photo, and he scrolled down to inspect it. He nearly dropped his phone in shock when he saw his girlfriend wearing something that showed him more than what he ever saw, and truthfully, it was pleasing to the eye. His eyes roamed over Reiichi's body figure, just staring, because he couldn't _believe_—then he noticed Lenalee smirking behind her, winking.

_She is _not_ wearing that._

He sent it back flatly, eyes darting suspiciously towards the other two who didn't seem to be noticing him at all. If Lavi stole his phone, he'd never hear the end of it. He received another message within seconds.

_Why? Your pants got tighter? _

Kanda nearly snapped his phone in half. He swore he could hear Lenalee's evil giggles.

_Too bad, we bought it already. Anyway, I booked enough beds in the event that you'd like to come along. :D_

All he could manage in reply were two words.

_Damn you._

* * *

That Saturday morning came quicker than Kanda would've liked. Well, he would have liked tons of other things too, but that's beside the point. He was waiting—again—for Reiichi, sitting idly at the couch, and then he suddenly got paranoid that she fell sick or something again. He hadn't really been waiting that long, it was just about five minutes since he got out of his room—but he wanted to drink his morning green tea.

Still, he found himself walking to her room, and stood outside her door for a few moments. Then he realised he was being _stupid_—which was _not_ often—and started to pace along the corridor. _To knock, or not to knock? To open, or not to open? _Maybe she got another headache, or what if she caught the flu, or perhaps, felt unwell in some way and thereby did not even get out of bed—

His musings were cut short when he heard a stifled chuckle, and he turned to the source of the sound. Reiichi was leaning against her closed door casually with an amused smile and raised eyebrow, but that wasn't the first thing he noticed.

The first thing that caught his eye was that she was actually wearing _makeup_. She rarely wore make up unless it was for formal occasions or such, and personally he thought it was better than pilling on heavy makeup all the time like some girls did. Today, hers was light, only foundation, mascara, blush and gloss—yes he knew the terms because he was a model. Then after he noticed that her hair, which was usually let down or tied up in a loose pony tail, was twisted into a loose bun.

To his immense disbelief—shock—incredulity—_pleasure_—Reiichi actually _dressed up_. She was probably wearing one of her own creations again, a white sundress with the trimmings edged with black as well as a black ribbon that was tied just beneath the bust. The bottom of the dress was embroidered with black flowers, and overall, she looked more…feminine than he was used to.

"What are you doing?" Reiichi asked, giving him a suspicious look.

He scowled, a faint heat crawling to his face because he knew he probably looked idiotic doing whatever he was doing. "You were taking too long," he complained, turning away to stride towards the kitchen.

"Sorry," she apologized, increasing her pace to match his as they wandered into the kitchen.

It was like daily ritual, wherein she took out the green tea leaves, and he boiled the water, and soon the kitchen was filled with the rumbling of the kettle. Reiichi grimaced when she spotted the dent on the kettle that was made during her careless attempt, and reminded herself to buy them a new one.

Whilst she poured the water into the cups, Kanda was trying so _hard_ not to look at her, but he was failing, and failing _badly_. He didn't even know why—he had seen her wear dresses before, make up before, so why was he feeling so bloody curious?

"Why are you—" he spoke before he could stop himself.

"Hmm?" Reiichi questioned setting his cup before him and taking her seat.

"….Why are you wearing _that_?" he spat out, feeling uncomfortable that he actually asked.

He never commented on her dress wear unless it was to insult occasionally (and she would ignore him as usual), and this time he was _not_ trying to give a compliment. Really.

"We're going to some high class hotel aren't we?" she explained, and then she wrinkled her nose as she remembered something. "Lenalee said we were going shopping too," then she looked at him. "Is there something weird about this? Do you think it's too causal?"

"Whatever," he managed eventually, gulping down the rest of his tea.

Reiichi shook her head, smiling slightly because it was just so _Kanda_. She paused for a moment suddenly. "I just realised…" she blinked, "Lavi isn't here."

"No shit," he scoffed. "I threw him out yesterday night, especially after he wouldn't shut up about the stupid beansprout and psychotic woman—blah blah blah _Allena_—who the fuck cares?"

"I actually feel some kind of pity for them," she commented. "But at least he won't try something with us this time. That's a relief."

"He's probably tried _everything_ with us already," Kanda snorted. "Not that anything worked."

Reiichi laughed softly. "True," she smiled, and for a moment a slight blush rose to her cheeks before she breathed in deeply. "Hey," she gestured towards him to lean closer.

"What?" he frowned, not understanding where she was going with this.

"Just come here for a bit," she stated.

"Why?"

Reiichi inwardly groaned at how he was making this so much harder and more embarrassing. "I want to tell you something."

"You can tell me here. There's no one around,"

She scowled slightly. "Just do it!"

"For what?"

She rolled her eyes, knowing he was too stubborn to accede to her request. Giving up, she stood up from her seat and reached forwards, pulling his face closer to hers. She didn't let him retort as she quickly brushed her lips against his, giving him a light kiss. She pulled back quietly and sat down, not daring to look back at him. Her lips were tingling with just mere contact—they hadn't kissed the past week since she fell sick and Lavi was around twenty four seven—and she hadn't realised how much she missed it until now.

When she peeked at him, he was scowling, licking his lips, but there was a heavy blush that resided on his face. That made _her_ blush harder.

"What?" he snapped quite defensively upon seeing her grin happily to herself. Honestly, he hadn't expected it at all, and he wasn't complaining, but he now realised how much better she tasted without the disgusting sticky coloured gloss on her lips. His theory had been proven right all along.

Reiichi didn't want to say he was looking way too adorable with the pink tint, but she was secretly elated that she had privy to such moments—and they hadn't had a moment like this for a while. Especially when her loudmouth-tend-to-ruin-good-moments-cousin insisted that he had to be around.

"What was that for?" Kanda asked with a snort after he refused to acknowledge that his heartbeat was annoyingly rapid.

Then again, Kanda tended to ruin the moments anyway.

"Just…last week," she replied nervously. "You know."

He raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Know what?"

Reiichi stared back at him disbelievingly.

"Never am I going to ever think of thanking you again," she frowned, standing up and swiping both their empty cups with more force when necessary to wash them in the sink, "Since you don't even remember a single thing that you did—therefore nothing happened," she concluded.

The cold water that gushed out from the tap flowed over her hands as she rinsed the cups, soothing her irritated nerves a little. Sometimes, she just couldn't get why he had to do things the hard way—but on hindsight, that part of him was probably too steadfast in his annoying careless behavior.

Just as she had placed the cups on the rack to dry, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"I hardly think that was sufficient," Kanda stated, rolling his eyes at her little tantrum, because damn, she knew with that small smirk on the edge of his lips that he knew she couldn't resist him. "Especially on how much I _suffered_."

"Really," she glared at him, turning to stare back defiantly.

"Really," he responded coolly.

There was just a short heated moment that transpired with mere stubborn gazes toward each other, before Reiichi proved him wrong.

* * *

Perhaps, Kanda thought in his mind, that he should irritate Reiichi more often.

Ever since ten months ago, he had been kissing the same girl. That was an oddity, because his relationships before never lasted ten months. But somehow, he just never understood why he kept craving it over and over again—he never got sick of it. It was just different each time. In the beginning, she was a little sloppy, but forgivable, because it just meant she had zero experience, and it was an experience he was more than glad to provide. Then she started to learn. She picked up on the tiniest things that made him go crazy, and today—no one would ever believe it—but she bit him.

She fucking _bit_ him on the mouth.

That wasn't the worst part of all.

He actually got _incredibly_ turned on.

It was the way she yanked his collar and kissed him _hard_, as though angry. It was the way she _dominated_ for nearly a minute, because he was just too shocked to keep up how she was forcefully trying to kiss him deeper, but when he finally got his bearings on…she stood no chance.

He ran a tongue over the part where she actually sunk her teeth into, eyeing her discreetly at the corner of his eye. Maybe she wasn't as innocent as he thought her to be. Maybe she really did have a wild and rough side of her that he got a glimpse of today because he annoyed her—and maybe, he should try it again—

In fact, he thought spitefully, if some stupid cousin of hers that was absolutely not his best friend anymore hadn't called at that opportune moment to tell them they were going to be late, they could have gone further. Preferably somewhere more comfortable than the kitchen counter, like the couch, or even his—

"Rei-chan! Yuu!"

Speak of the devil.

"He's so fucking dead," Kanda muttered under his breath, not before glaring at the said redhead waving like an idiot a few meters away.

Several shrieks cut through his thought process again as he pulled up to the front of the hotel.

"OH MY GOD—KANDA-SAMA!" was the general sentence or something along those lines.

He immediately grimaced, just wondering how the hell girls managed to even reach that pitch, because his ears clearly did not agree. And it seemed like Reiichi had the same sentiments, as she covered her ears and frowned harder.

Sometimes it sucked to sit in a convertible car when your boyfriend was arguably the hottest man alive—in Japan—because it just meant screaming hordes of fans were part of the package. Surely biggest disaster yet, Reiichi thought, very tempted to hit herself because she _forgot_ Kanda was _Kanda Yuu_. Again.

She now understood why he refused to come along in the first place.

The hotel attendants weren't doing much to hold people back, and Lavi got swamped with the masses of people. Still, Kanda managed to maintain his cool air of nonchalance (and barely suppressed aggravation) which was helped by the fact that he was wearing sunglasses that made him look more intimidating than ever.

Luckily, the savior came in the form of his childhood friend that he actually had thoughts to maim. Perhaps he'd forgive her now, but then again, all this was her fault anyway.

"Kanda-kun, give the valet your key," Lenalee smiled as she stepped through a parting made by several bodyguards that held people away from his car.

"Tch," he grumbled, getting out and tossing his key to the mentioned person. "I told you this would happen," he glared, walking over to her and ignoring the continued screams of his beloved fans.

"That's why I came prepared," Lenalee grinned at him. "Oh, leave your bags. The bellboy will take them up."

"Rei-chan!" Lavi was shouting in glee as he coughed his way out of the mass of people that was steadily starting to gather with the commotion. He flung the passenger car door open with much enthusiasm and hugged the _life_ out of his cousin. "I nearly died for you," he declared, nuzzling his nose against her cheek. "Do I get a medal?"

"You are way too excited," was her only comment, but she hugged him in return anyway.

"Yeah well," her cousin winked at her before lowering his voice. "My plan is all set and fired up to begin—ow!"

"Stop hogging her," Lenalee chided, swatting Lavi away from the awkward position he had Reiichi in—one leg out of the car. "Reiichi!" she greeted the other girl, beaming.

"Morning," Reiichi smiled back, getting out and shutting the door behind her.

"So, what did he say?" Lenalee leaned forwards and asked, glancing suggestively at Kanda who was storming past them all and trying to get rid of Lavi hanging off his arm.

"He didn't really…_say_ anything," she answered, ducking her head shyly for a moment.

Of course, it wasn't her idea to dress up today—obviously, it was Lenalee's. The model had insisted, no, forced the idea and even rattled off a list of excuses as to why she should wear something that was not a shirt and jeans combination. And the one that got her to agree was that Lenalee a hundred and one percent _swore_ that Kanda was attracted to her physically—and it was something the Chinese model felt that she should take advantage of, and more.

"Of course Kanda-kun wouldn't say anything," Lenalee snorted, guiding her towards the glass doors of hotel. "Though, since it's you, he might have. But I meant with his _eyes_."

She felt his gaze. It was no doubt she did, because his intense stare had given her the shivers even if she had her back turned while pouring tea this morning. And luckily her back was turned, because she was trying desperately not to spill the cups as her hands trembled upon the realization.

The Chinese model grinned, nudging Reiichi suggestively whilst the older girl tried to school her features into a more neutral one as they made their way after Kanda and Lavi who had disappeared into the glass doors.

"Kuroshi Reiichi! Kuroshi-sama!"

Someone was calling her loudly, but with the murmurings of disappointment that Kanda had left the scene, she wasn't so sure.

"Kuroshi-sama! Over here!"

Both of them spotted a young teenage girl waving frantically to them, shoving other girls who were dispersing after catching a glimpse of their idol. Reiichi paused to glance at her, wondering why she was called out. Lenalee looked at her to ask her wordlessly if she wanted to acknowledge the girl—and she curiously walked forwards where a bodyguard was trying to hold the struggling girl back.

"Kuroshi-sama?" The bodyguard glanced at her.

"Let her go," she nodded. "Thanks."

"Kuroshi-sama!" the young girl in the question was beaming brightly at her, jumping up and now in an excited fashion that reminded her of her cousin. "I'm Sekihara Tae—or just Tae, if you don't mind," the girl grinned, eyes sparkling. "I am your biggest fan! This is beyond wicked!"

Despite the extremely random event, Reiichi had to smile. "It's nice to meet you too, Tae-san."

"I never thought I'd see you in person!" Tae continued on excitedly, talking at a speed that at least twice the normal rate. "I've been following your works since your project with Kanda Yuu and I've never missed a single line that you've designed so far," she gushed, "especially this Autumn's collection—I really liked that neckscarf you created—it's perfect for the weather and easy to match with anything, I thought it was brilliant! I have it in all five colours!"

"Wow, um," Reiichi was blinking so much, unused to the attention. "That's…really nice to hear."

"Oh!" Tae suddenly shrieked, grinning hard. She pointed to the pants she was wearing. "Do you recognize this?"

It was demin, jeans, but the colour was curious. The top part was in hot pink, yet at mid thigh, it was cut off and the rest of the long pants were in deep navy. It was almost like…

"Those pants…" Reiichi whispered to herself. The very first thing she designed for Kanda. "Yes…I…" she beamed, unable to believe it. "This is—"

"—Amazing?" Tae squealed. "I know right! Could you autograph it for me? Please?" the girl begged, furiously digging into her bag to produce a marker. "Over here," she pointed just below her hip, at the pink section. "Please!"

Lenalee couldn't help but laugh at the widened eyes Reiichi was sporting. "Go on," she smiled, prodding the designer to get over her shock that yes, she was entitled to her own fans.

Reiichi took the marker, signing her signature. "Here you go."

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Tae repeatedly bowed, sporting a wide smile. "Can I...can I hug you?"

"I…guess so?"

The Chinese model watched as Reiichi hugged the girl hesitantly at first, but then she got pulled into an enthusiastic fan hug. Lenalee chuckled, laughing softly to herself.

"Can I ask you something?" Tae asked nervously when she pulled back, shuffling her feet.

"Depends on what it is," Reiichi responded politely.

"Well…" the younger girl cleared her throat anxiously. "Is it true? The rumours? The reports?" she elaborated when Reiichi blinked back uncomprehendingly. "You're dating Kanda Yuu?"

Reiichi was suddenly aware of how a small crowd of females had lingered around her as she talked to Tae, and it was obvious by the pointing and whispering that all of them recognized her as the girl who was rumoured to be with _Kanda Yuu_. Tae was looking expectant and in anticipation as she mulled over her answer. She looked at Lenalee unsurely for a moment, but Lenalee only shrugged and smiled at her encouragingly, because this was her choice.

"I…"

She and Kanda had avoided it for ten months; the constant hounding of the paparazzi and the repeated demands to call a session with reporters to give the ever elusive answer. If they were ever thrown a direct question along the lines, both of them merely shrugged their shoulders, and it was up to the press as to how to interpret that. Even Lavi had felt it was something they both should admit on their own—despite the constant teasing, he never once gave a straight response to any reporter either.

It was their private affair, between her and Kanda.

But today someone was asking her sincerely. Somehow it just felt wrong to brush Tae off, or answer cryptically. It just felt like she wasn't acknowledging the man she liked—no, _loved_—to other people. She was never ashamed of being with him, au contraire, she was proud to know that he treasured her above so many others he could have chosen.

"Yes," she stated clearly and firm. "I am."

Lenalee tackled her. "God, Reiichi," she sniffled, hugging the redhead tight. "I never thought you'd say it," she leaned back, smiling proudly. "I—I just—" she trailed off, hugging the girl again one last time before stepping back and beaming brightly. "Lavi will hear of this," she declared.

"_No, _he will not—"

Tae on the other hand, needed the few seconds Lenalee bought her to have the realization of dawn upon—that they were all talking about _Kanda Yuu_.

"You lucky lucky lucky—ugh! Oh my _god_ I'm incredibly jealous of you," the girl whispered. "Damn," she whistled. "How did you—how did he—nevermind, this is just so awesome!" she laughed gaily, clapping her hands, "Could you…this might be random, but um, could you design something for him again?"

At Reiichi's surprised silence, she babbled on.

"I'm not forcing you or anything, I just think that the clothes you make _fit_ him very well, you know? I'm not exactly sure what I'm saying or am I just ranting plain nonsense but there is a different feel to it when Kanda Yuu wears what you make," she continued, talking fast. "Like on the cover of Mugen last week, although it says the _Innocence_ design team designed that outfit but I thought perhaps, _you_ were the one to sew it—"

"….You can tell?" Reiichi gaped, not exactly sure what to feel.

"So I'm right?" Tae jumped happily. "Oh my god this is—this is—you have to do it! Please!"

Reiichi beamed. "Well," she coughed, smile faltering slightly, "I'll have to ask Kanda about it," she nodded slowly as Tae screamed in delight. "Maybe,"

"That's more than I can ask," Tae nodded vigorously. "I…I'm really happy to be able to meet you," she grinned. "I really _really_ want to be like you. I'm going to try for design school," she declared, "and most definitely get a job in _Innocence_!"

Was she ever this enthusiastic? Reiichi couldn't help but smile at the younger girl. She rummaged into her bag to take out her wallet for her name card.

"Send me your email," she told the other, "If Kanda agrees…"she trailed off, wondering what Kanda would say to it—probably bitch about it—"You'll be the first to know."

"…Really?" Tae asked slowly, taking the card with trembling hands. "Even before the official press and all? You promise?"

"Yeah."

Tae shrieked happily. "Thank you so much! Okay, okay, I've taken too much of your time right?" she beamed, turning to Lenalee, "Sorry for ignoring you, Lee-san!" she bowed hurriedly "I'm just…_ecstatic_! Best day of my life!"

"I understand," Lenalee laughed, shaking her head.

"Well, um, I…I'm just going to…go! Yeah!" Tae grinned, bowing repeatedly again. "Thank you so much!"

"It was a pleasure," Reiichi smiled as the other girl scuttled off, an obvious skip in her steps.

"That was interesting," Lenalee nodded. "But—"

"_No_, Lenalee," the redhead scowled slightly, turning away to walk towards the hotel entrance.

"But I haven't said anything!" the model cried, picking up her space to hurry after the other who was walking unusually fast.

"You were going to!"

"Was not—wait," Lenalee grabbed the other's wrist pulling her sharply to stop walking. "Are you…are you blushing?"

Reiichi turned her head away defensively, but it was mighty obvious that her face was colouring, and she was biting her bottom lip too. "N-no!"

"Let me guess," the Chinese model, smirked, trying to make Reiichi meet her eyes. "This is about the dating question, wasn't it?"

The redhead didn't answer, but how her face turned a lovely shade of pink was upmost interesting.

Lenalee grinned slowly. "I knew it."

* * *

"Now, Allen-chan," Lavi was saying, and Allen knew now how the stupid ponytailed jerk sitting across him ignoring them both had felt those months ago…and now. "The only obstacle between you and Lena-chan is Komui," and as an afterthought, "and robots. But not to worry! I, Lavi awesome, am on your side!"

"When will you _bloody_ get it?" Allen hissed, having lost patience since he had endured already _five_ days of Lavi hounding him about some plan with _Lenalee_ and _romance_ in the same sentence. "We're nothing more than friends—and it's going to stay that way!"

"Pah!" Lavi sniffed, munching on some toast. "Denial gets old—Yuu was floating in it ten months ago, my little man."

"I was _not_ in fucking denial," Kanda rolled his eyes, spreading butter on his bread.

"Right," Allen had to comment. "You just had to realize you were in love with Reiichi, because your brain was lagging too much to function properly."

"You fucking brat—"

"Ever wonder why you _always_ have to use some profanity with me, Kanda?" the white haired boy asked nonchalantly gobbling down sausages like it was water, "Since you don't use it with your girlfriend—"

"Fuck—"

"Hey, he's right," Lavi cut in suddenly, tone serious. "I didn't notice it until now, but Yuu, you don't curse...or at least, not as much when you're talking to Rei-chan."

Kanda nearly dropped his knife. _Shit_, he thought, glaring at the youngest boy who grinned unnoticeably to himself and concentrating on eating as Lavi shifted his attention to his best friend.

"I—fuck—" he gritted his teeth, remembering that the scheming short freak had pointed it once to him before. "I do not."

"You do," Lavi said slowly, stroking his chin, "Your last conversation with Rei-chan that I heard," he continued, "She was asking you what you packed for the trip, and you said "_A set of clothes and toiletries_," and then she said "_Sleeping wear?"_ and you said "_Shirt, pants_," and when _I _asked you about using their laundry service, you said, "_Are you fucking stupid, usagi? We're only staying for one fucking night. Why the fuck do we need their laundry service_?"" he ended off with a deeper voice that was supposed to imitate Kanda.

"…"

He wasn't even done. "And after that, you told Rei-chan "_Don't use that bag. Use the other one,"_ and I asked "_What other one?"_ and you said "_The only other fucking one_—"

"That's because you ask the most goddamn idiotic questions!" Kanda growled, banging his fist on the table.

"So what's up with that?" Lavi continued, unaffected.

"I...I…" Kanda scowled under the accusing stare of the green eye. "It's all your fucking fault anyway!"

"How is that my fault?" the redhead demanded.

"BaKanda just doesn't want to admit it's because he lo—"

"Moyashi!" Kanda glared angrily at Allen. "Shut your fucking mouth," he pointed the knife dangerously at the other, "And stop using me to avoid your own situation with Lenalee, you fucking coward."

"I am not in _any_ situation with Lenalee!" he denied, slapping his hand on the table. "That's Lavi's overactive imagination that will ensure my _death_ in Komui-san's hands and I'm _not_ going to die!"

"Have you heard yourself?" Kanda asked calmly, "Whine whine whine. Coward."

"What would you know about it," Allen muttered darkly, "You didn't have a bloody robot that tried to _annihilate_ you—" his smile was getting more creepy by the second, "and in the process broke Master's _entire_ wine collection," he grinned harder, and Lavi was seriously getting weirded out, "I'm fucking _grounded_ until forever, and that's just _one_ incident out of many that happened six months ago,"

"…wait wait WAIT," Lavi paused. "Did you just say 'fucking'? Because I heard you, Brit,"

"I was under the impression that my usual choice of words was unable to convey the degree of hell that your stupid comment has brought me," Allen responded flatly. "I am not kidding around, Lavi."

"Well uh…" The red head gulped at the complete and utter seriousness that the younger boy had said it in. Now he actually felt kind of _bad_. "…How are you here then?" he asked curiously. "Are you not grounded? And Komui actually let you come along?"

"Who am I?" Allen asked, gulping down orange juice in one shot.

"Moyashi," Kanda responded immediately.

"My name," Allen scowled.

"Mo—"

"Allen," Lavi quickly cut his best friend off who smirked and rolled his eyes. "Allen Walker."

"Right," Allen nodded.

It took Lavi a few seconds to get what the boy was trying to say. "…You," he began, trying not to grin, "Might just be more of a conceited ass than Yuu," he commented. "Even Yuu hasn't said something like "Because I'm _Kanda Yuu_."

"Actually," a new voice caught their attention and all of them turned to spot the two girls they didn't bother to wait for walk into the café. "He has."

"I have not," Kanda denied, glaring at the betrayer—his girlfriend. "I told you I never said that cliché shit."

"And I told you—"

"Sorry to interrupt your flirting guys," Lavi grinned hard when both of them stopped suddenly, averting their eyes, "What do you want to eat, ladies? I think you should order before Allen-chan eats out their kitchen."

Lenalee took the seat between Allen and Lavi, and Reiichi took the other empty one between Kanda and Allen.

"I'm not that hungry…" Reiichi mused, looking at the menu written on the chalkboards on the wall.

Kanda frowned. "You are not skipping breakfast again. Are you trying to be anorexic?" he demanded.

"I am not!" she scowled. "You know I don't eat much in the mornings—stop saying the same thing!"

The male model only matched her expression, leaning forward to stare at her. "…Did you do something?" he asked suspiciously, eyes travelling across her face that seemed slightly flustered. He also noted she was playing with her own hands—her sign of nervousness.

"She—"

"Lenalee," Reiichi growled threateningly, narrowing her eyes. "I mean it."

"Why not?" the other pouted.

"I...I'll tell him later myself," she stated, crossing her arms and huffing. "In private," she added when Lavi had opened his mouth to add in his two cents.

"_Private_ eh," Lavi waggled his eyebrows, grinning. "Sure, just—"

"Shut up," Kanda scoffed, shoving a piece of toast on his plate towards Reiichi. "Eat this. Or else I will force it down your throat."

"Way to kill the mood," Reiichi muttered under her breath.

The butterflies in her stomach that usually came with her feelings for Kanda disappeared at his threat, and she grabbed the bread from his hands, eating it with annoyance. She hadn't forgotten the times where Kanda actually did make use of his threat and shoved porridge into her mouth when she didn't want to eat while she was sick.

But as she was halfway through the toast, she noticed Kanda glancing at her sometimes while the others were engaged in conversation, with a small smirk on his lips. He knew why she wasn't hungry. Of course he did.

The other three watched them with barely concealed amused grins.

* * *

"Ooh! Let's go into that one!" Lenalee beamed, clearly in her element. "Don't you think that dress is so cute? I've got to try that!"

"The store isn't going anywhere, Lenalee," Reiichi sighed, being dragging into the fifth clothes store and counting.

"The store isn't," Lenalee agreed, "But the dress might! Come on, walk faster!"

"You told me to wear heels," the redhead griped. "You know I cannot walk fast in these."

"You need more practice. Wear them to office every day," the model concluded.

"I will trip and die."

"You don't even take the stairs," Lenalee rolled her eyes at the weak defense. "Come on, Kanda-kun's been staring at the way you walk ever since we left the café," both of them glanced discreetly behind where the three boys trailed after them.

"That's because I probably look unnatural wearing them!"

"...Maybe."

"Lenalee!" Reiichi cried, aghast.

"I was kidding!" the model laughed, happily skipping towards the first rack of clothes. "You look fine," she started to browse the rack as Reiichi stood beside her awkwardly. "How's this?" she showed the other light blue baby doll dress.

"…I think it'd look better without the ribbon on the side."

"That's true…how about this then?"

"The ribbon should have been sewed lower."

"This?"

"I don't like the colour."

"You surely can't go wrong with this."

"It's too short."

"Right, I'll try this one then."

"What?" Reiichi raised an eyebrow. "Where's the logic in that?"

"Reiichi, Reiichi, Reiichi," Lenalee smiled. "Your opinions make the most sense since you are a designer, but as for the length of the dress, it's just personal preference, can you relate?"

"I guess."

"Okay, I'm going to the changing room—" the model skipped towards the white doors. "Don't you dare leave the store," she warned, narrowing her eyes. "And that includes you boys too."

"What the fuck," Kanda glared back.

Honestly. Why was he here?

Why?

Why the hell did he have to agree?

After breakfast, his not beloved childhood friend declared that they were going to do what _she_ loved most—shopping. It wasn't like Kanda never shopped before. He had free clothes he got from his shootings, but before he became famous, surely he needed to buy his own clothes. It would have been okay if they were in a unisex department store or something, so he could actually distract himself—but all he saw around were frilly girl clothing.

At least, he mused, there weren't a hoard of fans following him around. He didn't know if it was Komui's doing or what, but the public was barred from entering the hotel lobby, and since the mall they were in was specially made for the patrons of the hotel, the only shoppers around were hotel guests.

"Kanda-sama!"

Then again, he forgot that he was actually _famous_.

"Kanda-sama, would you like to—"

"Go away," he snapped, tapping his foot impatiently, ignoring the shop assistant who was trying to chat him up.

At the other side of the store, Lenalee had came out of the changing room and twirled around. "What do you think?"

"Cute," Lavi nodded, grinning. "Total strike."

"You look good in anything," Reiichi smiled. "I told you before."

There was a long pause until Allen realised everyone was looking at him. "What?" he asked, blinking.

"Comment, dude!" Lavi nearly smacked his forehead.

"How do I look?" Lenalee smiled, looking at him expectantly.

"You look…" Allen trailed off, wondering if he said the truth, would he been mauled for it. He was starting to get paranoid that Komui had stuck a GPS on him or something.

But besides those thoughts, Lenalee was looking absolutely stunning. He already knew Lenalee was pretty—she _had_ to be pretty—and she always, as Reiichi had said, looked good in anything. But maybe it was the material of the dress that seemed to hug her curves that stood out more than anything.

"…nice," he finished.

Lenalee beamed back at him, seemingly satisfied. "I think I'll get this," she announced, entering the changing room again to change back.

Lavi grinned and waved innocently until all of them heard the lock click shut when he turned upon Allen with a menacing glint. "What the hell is wrong with you?" he whispered furiously to the younger boy. "She was fucking _gorgeous_ and you said nice? You said _nice_?" he repeated incredulously.

Before Allen could even retort, Lavi was ranting already. "She was waiting for _you_ man! How could you just say that?—"

"She can hear you, you know," Allen deadpanned. "If you're hoping for some stuttering, denial and then a confession, go bother your best friend,"

"Hmph," the male redhead sulked. "Why is it that you see right through me all the time?"

"It's because you're transparent," Reiichi answered, raising an eyebrow.

Lavi stuck a tongue at both of them, turning away to huff.

But in that moment, Reiichi noticed Allen turning his head slightly away, clearing his throat inaudibly and he fingered his collar uneasily for one second before his face relaxed into a his usual poker smile. His grey eyes met hers, and with fascination, she noticed his eyes were guarded. Very unusual, because Allen always sported eyes that showed his emotions when he was around people he was comfortable with.

Just maybe…

The smile on Allen's lips grew wider when he noticed Reiichi looking curiously at him, a sure sign of his uneasiness.

His eyes slid to some direction and Reiichi followed, the sight of the shop assistant trying to flirt with Kanda extremely apparent in her vision. She clenched her fist unconsciously, the familiar tang of jealousy bitter in her mouth.

"I'll be back," she told Lavi who was pointedly kicking the floor in his failed attempt number one to notice anything else.

She caught Allen's gaze at her again, and this time it was apologetic. She didn't get it for a second until she realised it was his way of distracting her to not ask him about whatever she noticed a few moments ago. She smiled back understandably.

"Excuse me," she walked towards the shop assistant who was obviously grating on Kanda's nerves, judging by the scowl that could not that gone deeper. "Excuse me!"

The shop assistant reluctantly turned to her. "Yes?"

"My friend wants the dress," she stated, gesturing to the changing room where Lenalee had gone in. "Could you get her a new one?"

Grudgingly, the other went to do as she was told.

Reiichi could almost hear the sigh of relief from Kanda.

"No word of thanks?" she asked, glancing at Kanda with a small smile.

He shrugged, turning to stare out of the store disinterestedly.

"Bored?"

"Extremely," he agreed, crossing his arms. Again, why did he come?

Reiichi hummed, looking towards where Lenalee had came out and was conversing with the shop assistant while Lavi tried to drag Allen into commenting. She was okay with this—spending time what her friends wanted to do—but truthfully she was getting bored too. Shopping was never her favourite pastime, and well, it wasn't like Kanda and she went to shopping malls much.

"Do you want to…" she asked hesitantly, stepping closer to him so that she could tug on his hand. "Go somewhere else?"

"Like?"

"Around," she shrugged.

Kanda looked at her for a moment before nodded curtly. Quickly he strode out of the store, not bothering to look back. Reiichi gave the other three a glance before hurrying after him while they did not notice, too engrossing in finding another dress for Lenalee to try.

* * *

"Let's go to the top floor," Reiichi decided after they looked at the mall directory.

Most of the shops around were clothing stores, and she was sure she had enough after entering five and with Lenalee only deciding on one dress so far. The top floor seemed to have shops that didn't sell clothes, so at least they would be looking at something different.

When they took the escalator up, the first thing she smelled was freshly popped caramel popcorn. There were a few digital screens showing timings of movies around, as well as a short queue of people at the counters.

A movie theater.

"Do you want to watch something?" she asked Kanda absently, staring at the movies that were now showing.

"Don't we watch enough at home?" he countered. "Anyway there's nothing interesting."

"Hmm. Wait, no," she started to smile slowly. "_Pirates of the Caribbean_ is showing!"

"What?" He was getting annoyed because her tone sounded just like when she talked about the Blonde Bitch.

"Pirates," she turned to him incredulously, frowning. "Haven't you watched the first three movies? With Lavi?"

Did he?

"I love those moments," she quoted with a grin. "I love to wave at them when they pass by,"

He only stared blankly.

"_Johhny Depp_, Kanda," Reiichi was saying someone's name like he actually _cared_. Right. "Captain Jack Sparrow! You've definitely watched it before."

He gave her a look that said otherwise.

"Where has the rum gone?" she tried.

"Look, does it really matter?" he grounded out, frowning. "It still sounds stupid. I'm not watching it."

"Please?" she asked nicely.

"No."

"Come on."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I am not going to watch you watch some stupid drunk guy in need of a hygiene makeover," he stated flatly.

It took Reiichi a second to process the thought. "You do remember it," she accused, grinning slightly.

"Whatever," he scowled deeper when she continued to look at him expectantly, and he felt his resolve start to weaken. "No means no," he insisted. No, he was not going to say yes, he definitely wasn't going to say yes, even if she was smiling at him like _that_ and—

"Fi—"

"Fine," Reiichi relented. "Lavi wants to watch it with us anyway."

Kanda turned and walked off, muttering angrily under his breath.

"Hey!" she called after him, following his long strides. "Were you going to say yes?"

"No!" he denied immediately, glaring.

Reiichi nonetheless beamed knowingly, and he scoffed. One day, he thought, he was going to be so fucking screwed by her smile.

"I actually wanted to go there anyway," she pointed towards a relatively large store across the level.

Kanda didn't know what it was until they were a few steps away and he saw something _move_. A small rodent was scuttling about in a glass cage placed at the windows, and that was only one out of the many others. Going closer, Reiichi bent down to take a closer look at one of the cages. In front of her, a bundle of fur was huddled together at a corner, sleeping peacefully.

"So cute," she unknowingly mumbled, touching the glass display.

Kanda tapped her shoulder and she looked up, head snapping to the sign he was pointing at.

_Do not touch the glass._

"Whoops," she muttered sheepishly.

"You wanted to buy a pet?" Kanda glanced at the hamsters she was fawning over.

"No, not really," she responded, squatting down to gaze at the animals again. "I just think they're cute, but it's troublesome to keep one," she grabbed his hand and tugged. "Look at this!"

Sighing, he bent down to see what she was gesturing at.

A small white rabbit twitched its nose at him, ears flopping down from the top of its head.

"It's so small…"

He watched as she whispered in almost child like wonder, her eyes sparkling excitedly. She was smiling, an expression of softness and glee on her features as she stared at the rabbit. Maybe she hadn't noticed, but she hadn't let go of his hand at all.

"Rei," he coughed, squeezing her hand to get her attention.

She dropped his hand quickly, both of them casting a quick glance around if anyone had seen them. Perhaps it didn't really matter, since all the people on the level were occupied at the cinema area, leaving the vicinity around them blank.

"Sorry, I forgot," she murmured, turning her attention back to the rabbit, cupping her face as she gazed at the little animal. "Do you think Lavi can take care of a rabbit?"

"No," Kanda answered honestly. "He's more likely to feed it poison than its actual food."

"Hmm," she agreed non-committedly. "Shame," she muttered. "It's so cute."

"Not really," he muttered, and Reiichi turned to stare at him in disbelief.

"How so?" she demanded. "It's so…tiny! And its fur looks so soft! And it's snow white!" she gushed.

"It's just a rabbit," Kanda rolled his eyes.

"Oh right," she paused. "You don't think anything is cute."

He looked disgruntled, but he didn't deny it.

"Can we go in?" she was looking at him excitedly, a bright smile on her lips.

Before he could shrug or agree flippantly, she was already skipping towards the entrance of the pet store excitedly. It wasn't often that Reiichi showed enthusiasm in many things—most of the time, Lavi was the one to drag them around—and he remembered that she had a weakness for things she considered cute. He had heard it somewhere before.

The inside of the store was air conditioned at an even lower temperature than the outside, and the smell of animal fur and hay hit their noses when they stepped in. The shelves were rather cluttered with various pet items ranging from food to bedding to toys, and it was fairly large, with a complete section dedicated to live pets that they were selling.

"Irrashaimase!" a young man decked in the shop's uniform came forwards to greet them brightly. The name tag read _Ren_. "Welcome to _Yamazaki's_! How may I assist you today?"

"Just looking around," Reiichi replied, smiling.

"You are interested in the rabbits?" the shop assistant asked. "I saw you watching them from the outside," he grinned. "Well, the one you were looking at is a Lop," he step forwards to the glass cages and bent down to scoop the small animal into his hands.

The rabbit lay quietly in his palm, big blue eyes looking back at her.

"The characteristic is their floppy ears," Ren continued, stroking the rabbit's fur softly. "They're docile and friendly, a good choice for children," he continued, grinning, "And, personally I think it's _adorable_."

The small bundle of white fur seemed to be entirely content in the shop assistant arms, closing its eyes contently when his hands tickled its neck.

"It is," she agreed immediately, not understanding why Kanda could call it _not cute_. It was just not possible!

"Do you want to hold it?" Ren asked.

"Can I?"

"Sure," he held the rabbit towards her, placing it in the crook of her elbow on her arm.

It was warm, and soft and pure white, and its nose twitched at her skin, sniffing, causing a slight ticklish sensation.

"Kanda," Reiichi turned to the model who had been blending into the background disinterestedly watching her. "It's so cute!" she beamed, stroking its fur.

He didn't agree with her statement, looking back at her coolly with his arms crossed. The small animal was perhaps, _cute_, maybe, but it looked so utterly weak and defenseless that irked him. But Reiichi was hugging the rabbit so close to her, seemingly protecting the small furball with that elated natural smile. Well, _she_ was cu—oh no, he wasn't going to finish that decidedly cheesy thought.

"You want it?" he asked.

"I don't think you'd want a pet in our house."

"It's very easy to keep!" the sales boy interjected enthusiastically. "It's quiet too, so it's perfect for young married couples!"

Reiichi nearly dropped the animal she was cradling. "Um...we're not…" then she realised she said _our house_, which most likely was the source of confusion. But in actual fact, she was more surprised that Ren hadn't realised Kanda was _Kanda Yuu_.

She got distracted when she felt something warm trod over her feet, and the feel of fur rubbing itself over and over again on her calves. She looked down, surprised to see a black kitten mewing softly and circling her feet.

"Ah! Taro!" Ren mocked scowled, taking the kitten into his hands. "Escaped, again," he scratched the small cat behind the ears. "I'm so sorry about that," he apologized.

"It's fine," she smiled. "It's so fluffy," she commented, watching the kitten paw at Ren's chest, curiously sniffing the front of his uniform.

"It's just a few months old," he nodded, walking down one aisle until he came to short barricaded area.

He let the kitten down, and Reiichi peered over curiously to see what was in it. Five sets of eyes gazed back at her, mewling softly. More kittens.

"All these are about the same age—"

The bell at the door jingled, signaling more customers.

"Ah, excuse me for a moment," Ren bowed. "You're welcomed to browse, and if you need any help at all, don't hesitate to call me," he smiled, taking back the small white rabbit Reiichi was holding.

"Thank you," she nodded, watching him hurry to the entrance with a greeting for the new customers.

She and Kanda were left alone at the area where the kittens were housed. She turned to look at the animals, but then she noticed Kanda was leaning against the barricade lazily and staring back at one ginger kitten that mewled back at him. He raised an eyebrow, and the kitten padded closer towards him until it was looking up directly at him.

"It likes you," she commented, grinning.

"Hn."

Reiichi let down one hand to let the cat sniff her fingers, and it rubbed its nose against her hand several times, encouraging her to pet it. She picked it up, its large green eyes looking back at them when she held it out at arm's length.

"Hold it for a while," she smiled, holding the kitten out to Kanda.

"No," he sent her a look at clearly said she was insane for even suggesting.

"It won't kill you," she urged.

"Is that supposed to mean something?"

"Yes," she answered. "No, seriously. Could you hold it for a while?"

"What for?"

Sometimes Reiichi wondered _why_ Kanda was so stubborn. "I just want to see you hold it," she scowled, annoyed. "Is that a good enough answer?"

"No, it wasn't," he rolled his eyes, but he relented and took the animal from her.

The kitten was fragile—much more fragile than he imagined, because he was so sure he could crush the thing without even thinking. It was warm, and its fur tickled his palms. It just stared back unblinking as he held it awkwardly, not knowing what exactly he was supposed to do with it. Okay, she wanted him to hold it. Now what?

Reiichi pushed his hands lightly to make him hold the cat against his chest. It mewled softly, pads curiously touching his shirt, and he looked back down blankly.

"…Cute," she mumbled, stepping closer to him and petting the back of the kitten.

Kanda watched as she fawned over the small thing, beaming, and her sparkling eyes met his when she looked up. He didn't really get why at first when she suddenly blushed furiously and bit her lip.

"What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"N-nothing," she denied, trying to wave off the heat that came from her face.

She had been curious. She had wondered how he would look like carrying something cute, since his scowling angry image just would've killed the entity of the cuteness anyway. But she was painfully reminded that this was the same man who had survived her _Gluttony_ piece, and also the trip to her orphanage. Somehow Kanda's expression was more neutral today, and it did make him look slightly softer. Couple that with the kitten in his hands—cutest moment yet.

"You think Lavi can take care of a cat?" she asked, ignoring the smirk Kanda was shooting her at her flustered state.

"What's with all the questions about the usagi?" he asked in return, placing the kitten on the edge of the barricade because he got bored of holding it.

The kitten unsteadily padded around, licking his fingers.

"Answer my question first," she replied, stroking the little animal.

"No," he responded with utter seriousness. "It'd shred his papers, and his old man will kill it if he doesn't."

"I guess no pets for him, huh," Reiichi mused, taking the cat and placed it gently back into its home. "I just thought Lavi would get lonely, that's all," she explained softly, eyes watching the rest of the kittens stumble over one another as Kanda stood beside her. "There's us," she continued, "And now Lavi's trying to pair Allen and Lenalee…so…what about him?"

"What about him?" Kanda frowned. "He can go get some girl—"

"I told him to find one but he doesn't want to," she replied. "He said I'm enough for him…and I just feel like I'm denying him of his happiness."

"It's his own choice, isn't it?" he snorted.

"You know the choices he makes aren't exactly the best ones," she smiled wryly. "So I thought as a start I'd give him a pet."

Kanda knitted his eyebrows together. "Before giving him a girl?"

"Well, not really but something like that," she conceded. "I don't know what kind of girls he likes anyway," she continued on quickly when Kanda was going to say something. "I don't believe his declaration that aged 14 to 40 girls are all," she rolled her eyes, "a strike. He has a type, I know it."

"I pity whoever it is," Kanda immediately said. "Though it'd be the day when _he_ goes through all his stupid plans—"

"Speaking of which," Reiichi paused. "Do you think Allen actually _does_ like Lenalee?" she mused. "Because he was acting a little weirdly in the store just now, I'm not sure if you saw it."

The male model snorted, rolling his eyes as though obvious. "I could have told you that years ago."

"Wait. You mean he really does?" then she frowned slightly. "I didn't know you guys years ago, in my defense."

"Whatever," he scoffed, suddenly turning to leave the store.

Reiichi frowned, now deadly curious. She hurried after him, bowing once to Ren who was still attending to the other customers and she was flashed a smile in return before catching up with Kanda's long strides.

"They were staring at us," he offered as a way of explanation for his behavior, slowing down his pace.

"Nevermind that," she waved it off in dismissal. "How do you know Allen likes Lenalee?"

"It's obvious," he stated flatly. "Three years ago," he elaborated. "I caught the beansprout talking to himself like a moron," he smirked, as if remembering a memory. "Apparently Komui drugged him in suspicion to speak the truth, but the sister-complex didn't know that the drug only took effect an hour later after an interrogating session."

"That's…drastic," Reiichi didn't know what to think of her CEO. "So Lavi does have a basis for his matchmaking."

"Tch, no," he clicked his tongue. "The usagi doesn't know jack about the Moyashi. That's all for his own amusement," he snorted. "Too bad for the punk,"

"Hmm," Reiichi nodded slowly. "I'm just curious why _you_ aren't making fun of him about it," she confessed. "Because you like to insult him all the time."

"Like I said," Kanda huffed at how bad she made him sound, but didn't deny it. "If the usagi knew about it, he probably won't be doing whatever he's trying to do."

"Why is that?"

Kanda slid an eye toward her. "She doesn't like him back."

* * *

"Where did you guys ago?" Lenalee demanded, hands on her hips with shopping bags dangling from her wrists.

"Around," Reiichi replied cautiously, walking in tandem with Kanda whilst their hands slightly brushed against one another unnoticeably before they approached the trio waiting for them outside a restaurant.

"Cut them some slack, Lena-chan," Lavi grinned, winking at her. "It's not often that Yuu brings Rei-chan out for a walk," he pulled them both over enthusiastically. "Found your wedding rings?"

Reiichi slapped his chest hard. "I was going to give you something, but I've changed my mind now."

"Wait! I want it!" he begged, hugging her tightly. "I want it! Want! Want! WANT!"

"God, just give it to him already," Kanda grumbled sticking his hands in his pockets.

"What's up with you—ooh!" Lavi stopped in his question when a round silver coin was thrust in front of him. "A token!" he cried enthusiastically. "There's an arcade here?" he beamed, happily taking the coin and flipping it over his fingers, then he paused. "Did you guys play in the arcade?" he asked suspiciously.

"I guess," she reluctantly nodded as Lavi shrieked in jubilee.

"Oh my god why didn't you call me?" He gushed. "I totally wanted to see it! What game did you guys play?"

"Guys, come on, we've got a table," Lenalee called some distance away with Allen trailing behind her, waving at them.

"Metal slug? Time crisis?" Lavi continued to prod as they reached their table. "Mario," he declared confidently as Reiichi raised an eyebrow at him. Okay, maybe not. "Marvel vs Capcom? Basket hoops?"

All he got were nonchalant stares.

"Wait! I've got it," he smirked. "_DDR_," then the smile dropped when he noticed Kanda growling in displeasure while Reiichi was trying to stifle a chuckle. "OH MY GOD—YOU DIDN'T."

"We didn't."

"YOU DID!" he clapped his hands excitedly. "Rei-chan, you evil evil _evil_ little devil!" he accused, grinning so hard. "Let me guess," he continued on happily. "You didn't even give a chance to your lover boy."

"We were playing at the highest level of difficulty!" she scowled, pointing at Kanda accusingly. "He was trying to make me lose!"

"Well of course he was," Lavi snorted. "Yuu can't stand to lose _anything_," he rolled his eyes.

"She was getting all the fucking perfects! She clearly rigged the machine!" Kanda growled, crossing his arms.

"No I didn't!" she frowned. "I just played it enough times to memorize the steps—just admit it. You lost to me!"

"Who the hell memorizes the damn steps?" he demanded.

"When you play against _that_ one," she pointed at Lavi who waved back jauntily. "You have to."

"I never lost to him," Kanda sniffed, narrowing his eyes.

"That's because you never let the game end," Lenalee commented, setting a plate of food on the table.

They hadn't realised they were too engrossed in conversation to notice that the other two had already left to help themselves to the buffet. Lenalee's plate was filled with her salad appetizer, and Allen was still somewhere out there helping himself to the food.

"Whatever," Kanda grumbled, standing up to head over to the food. "Bottom line is: She cheated."

Reiichi huffed, crossing her arms while Lavi tugged her over to follow the other.

"Did you really cheat?" he whispered, slinging an arm over her shoulder.

"I might have pushed him while he was doing a combo," she conceded.

"I think sometimes," Lavi grinned, "You might be more competitive than Yuu."

* * *

The best part of a buffet, Reiichi mused, was that she had free reign over the dessert section. Ice cream, cream puffs, pastries, mochi, pudding, there was even a chocolate fountain! It was amazing. She marveled at how delicate the small pieces of cake were decorated, mouth starting to water at the mere visuals of them.

She hadn't even anything sweet since she fell sick—Kanda had really dumped all the sweet things she had stored in the freezer for not finishing that bowl of porridge, and he actually seemed _happy_ about it, the jerk. He forbade her to buy any more saying that it was precisely because of those that she fell sick, which was an utter _lie_ in her opinion.

Well, she was going to eat some today, no matter what he said.

Someone in a white uniform entered the section carrying a pastry that smelled so good, she turned to eye the round crust on a tray. A pie! And freshly baked at that.

But what caught her attention afterwards was shocking.

"….Link-sensei?" she mumbled, staring at the person who had straightened up after setting the pie down on the table, knife in his hand, poised and ready to slice it.

He looked the same as she last remembered—the mature face for one who was actually only a few years older than her, his blonde hair in a braid, and the two small dots on his forehead.

"Kuroshi-kun?" he blinked back in reply, expression mirroring hers. "What are you doing here?" he asked, then it seemed like he felt it was a stupid question because he coughed uncomfortably. "Would you like a slice?" he gestured to the pie.

"Um, I guess?" she responded unsurely, suddenly aware of the awkwardness of the situation.

Here she was, in a buffet restaurant, having a slice of pie served to her by her previous vice principal. If it wasn't odd, then she didn't know what else was. Link cut the pie expertly, placing a slice on an empty plate before holding it out to her.

"Link-sensei…" she started, accepting the plate.

"I'm not your teacher anymore, Kuroshi-kun," he replied, smiling wryly. "Not for about a year now," he nodded, turning his attention back to the pie as he sorted the cut pieces out.

"Well…" she fidgeted. "You are still in the Black Academy aren't you? Why are you…here?" _And wearing a white apron at that?_ Was what she wanted to ask, because it was strange, ever so _strange_, that she was seeing someone in authority—her ex vice principal!—doing something so domestic.

"I am," he confirmed, taking up the now empty tray and looking at her. "This is just my…hobby, of the sorts," he smiled slightly.

"You baked this?" she asked incredulously, looking at the pie.

"Yes," he nodded. "Try it and tell me if it's any good."

She took a fork and cut a small piece of it—and just for a short moment, her eyes widened and she froze. "This is..." the crust was crispy and delicate and fluffy and the blueberry filling was actually warm and homely sweet—it was beyond "…_amazing_," she admitted. "I think you could set up a store on your own with just this."

Link inclined his head in thanks. "I'm just testing the waters for now," he replied, a short smile on his lips. "And I've got school duties to attend to anyway."

"Rei—" a stern voice growled from behind her, and her plate was snatched away. "What did I say about eating this?"

"Hey, give that back!" she tried to take it back from Kanda, but the model caught her wrists. "Come on, Kanda. It's just one slice, and it's really good!"

"Che," Kanda snorted, ignoring her protests because his line of vision was concentrated on the man watching them silently.

Brown eyes, serious demeanor, ridiculous cut blonde hair and wearing an apron—Kanda could not, for the life of him, understand why Reiichi ever liked her teacher. He just looked so utterly _boring_ in all accounts. She had revealed that it was a passing crush on accident when he asked her who she had referred to when they played _I Never_ in the club and it seemed like she'd rather die than let Lavi know about it—so he didn't really think much of it, especially since he had successfully used it as blackmail before.

But now standing before the said man, he couldn't help but feel extremely irritated.

Honestly what did Reiichi ever see in the other? Kanda judged the white apron and baking tray—baking was for sissies, and that thought equaled to _so very gay_ in his opinion. Before he knew it, he was just glaring at the blonde for the hell of it.

"Kanda," she hissed, nudging him. "Stop giving him that look."

"Who is he?" Kanda asked loudly, and Reiichi nearly stepped him on the foot for the plain rudeness.

"You know who he is," she grumbled, sending him a glare.

"Howard Link, Kanda-san," Link inclined his head. "We've met before."

"Have we?" he snorted, taking the plate of pie with him as he pulled Reiichi walk away. "I don't recall."

"It was nice to see you again, Link-sensei!" Reiichi bowed once to Link who just watched the famed model drag his ex-student off with a vengeance.

Link wasn't one to keep up on gossips and rumours, but when you were in charge of a school whereby one of the subjects had come from, it was hard not to know. It really wasn't any of his business anyway, so he took the empty tray and headed back to the kitchen where he had another pie in the oven.

Then there was a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey, yo man! I didn't know you baked!"

Familiar red hair, green eye. A grin that slowly morphed into a smirk.

"You look fabulous with an apron, have I ever told you that?"

"Once is more than enough, Lavi," he sighed, sidestepping the student that he once personally taught.

"Link?" Allen froze, balancing at least ten full plates on his hands, staring at them a few meters away. "Did Shishou send you here? Or…"

"I have better things to do than to babysit you again," Link commented.

"You stalked me!" Allen flushed, accusing him.

"Whoa—no way," Lavi smirked, snapping his fingers. "I thought you were the one who said never to use our talent in photography to stalk people!"

"I didn't stalk you, Walker," Link denied quite indignantly. "And I'm certainly not here because of you. I have a pie in the oven, so will you both now excuse me—"

"A pie?" Allen straightened up suddenly. "You bake here?"

Link blinked. "…Yes."

"Could I…could I order ten to go?"

* * *

"I am so sure that wasn't legal," Reiichi commented, watching Allen wave at Link enthusiastically as they left the restaurant.

"It was a buffet," Allen smiled, not at all bothered. "I wanted to eat ten pies, and it's not my fault they didn't have ten pies ready."

Allen had eventually won his way—with his every elusive logic and reasoning—with the manager of the restaurant that he could order the ten blueberry pies from Link to go without paying for an extra single cent. He argued that the time limit rule did not apply, since it was absolutely no problem for _him_ to eat ten pies in their lunch hour, but it was their fault that they didn't have ten pies baked already.

This is why he loved buffets.

"Okay, let's rest for about an hour, and then we'll meet at the pool," Lenalee nodded, looking at her watch. "Agree?"

"That's fine with me," Lavi agreed, stretching and rubbing his stomach. "I feel too full to move now."

An hour later as promised, Lavi found himself at the top floor of the hotel. But for some reason, he was the only one half naked. Why was this so?

The hotel that Lenalee had booked them into was one of the classiest he has been yet. The rooms that they got—girls one, and boys one, side by side on the 48th floor were fully carpeted, furnished tastefully, and the best part was the super large beds complete with fancy duvets and covers. It was great! But the thing that made him shriek in awesomeness was the infinity pool and skypark right at the top of all 55 levels.

The wind and the view from such a height made him almost want to try a Titanic.

"Rei-chan! Hug me from the back!" he grinned enthusiastically as he stretched his arms out at the glass barrier. "_Nearrrrrr…..farrrr…where everrrrr you areee_—"

His cousin came over, but she didn't hug him, instead, stared in wonder at the perfect view.

"Wow, that's the Tokyo tower, isn't it?" she mumbled, gazing out.

"Reds!" Lenalee whistled at them waving them to walk over. "Let's go before Kanda-kun gets grumpy!"

Indeed, Kanda was scowling deeper by the second. News had travelled—somehow—in the hotel that top model _Kanda Yuu_ was going to be at the pool at 3 30 p.m, and the pool was now littered with girls in skimpy bikinis giggling and blushing madly and pointing not so subtly at the said model. Thankfully, Kanda had his tank top on, but the damage had been done, because the shrieks of glee were getting louder, and he wasn't sure how long the bodyguards from his company could keep ranging fangirls at bay.

The relatives hurried over, following the three other who went further down the length of the pool, until they came to a part where it was barricaded.

"Lee-sama," one of them in suits bowed, releasing the ribbon barricade.

"Thanks Yoshi-san!" Lenalee beamed at the man, stepping through towards the empty section of the pool—and it was obvious that everyone else sighed in relief as screams of appreciation of Kanda Yuu started to fade in the background.

"You really did think of everything," Reiichi smiled, impressed. Personally she wasn't feeling very sure when hungry eyes started to rape her boyfriend.

"Of course I did," Lenalee grinned triumphantly. "It'd be a shame if Kanda-kun didn't get what he came for, no?"

It was definitely on purpose that the Chinese model had said that out loud. "Lenalee—" she started, but was cut off by a very loud shout.

"CANNONBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" Lavi screamed at the top of his lungs, running and jumping in the air, tucking his legs together just before he hit the water surface, and managed to splash everyone in the vicinity.

"USAGI!" Kanda growled, wiping at his face.

"Come on! The water's fine!" the male redhead was already splashing about in the water.

"I'm with you," Lenalee agreed, pulling her shirt off.

Lavi wolf whistled as the Chinese model stripped to her swimwear. He just didn't understand how Allen could resist something like _this_—that superbly toned body and milky smooth skin in great figure, and especially how her black bikini showed off just how blessed she was in assets—and then he suddenly felt a cold chill down his spine. _Komui, _he shuddered, _Komui will never know my thoughts_, he chanted faintly.

Then he secretly watched Allen turn away like the gentleman he was. Bah, how boring.

"Dude, move over!" The female model grinned before jumping into the water as well.

"Not going in?" Reiichi sat at one of the white pull out plastic chairs under a huge umbrella. She leaned back, stretching her limbs.

"It's too hot," Kanda replied, making himself comfortable in the seat next to hers.

"Oh come on, Yuu, any tan will fade away!" Lavi whined from the edge of the pool, flicking water at him.

"Fucking stop that!"

"Allen, you can swim, can't you?" she glanced at the other boy who was fanning himself with his shirt.

"I can," he nodded, but then grimaced when he cocked his head towards his sleeve covered arm. "But…you know."

"Lame excuse Moyashi-chan!" Lavi called. "You know we don't care about that!"

"Yeah, but _those_ people do," the youngest boy muttered, eyes signaling to people watching them from the other side of the pool.

"Allen," Lenalee smiled softly as she came up to the water's edge. "You came here to have some fun right? It's about you, not them. Come on."

"Well…"

"Hey, your girl is pleading you and you're going to say no?"

Allen scowled to himself, yanking his shirt over his head to cover any slip of expression on his face. When he managed to get his shirt off, he was smiling as usual, but when he turned to look at Lavi specifically, the smile just got wider.

Already, Lavi had tried so hard to psycho him about Lenalee during the time where Reiichi and Kanda had escaped—lucky them—and he hadn't thought of a way to make the redhead stop despite pulling the most apathetic expression he could muster—oh yes, Lavi was going to pay for all the annoyance. He focused his grin on the other and Lavi knew he was so _screwed_.

"You have a tattoo," Reiichi commented, surprised. "At your age?"

Allen looked down at his collarbone where he had four arrows with the ends in circles drawn. "There isn't an age limit for it, is there?" he smiled at her, bending down at the water's edge to sit first before going in.

"I guess not."

"Now that's Allen's in," Lenalee grinned, "Reiichi—it's your turn."

"But I can't swim!" Reiichi groaned, slapping her forehead.

"It's only 0.9 meters here," the Chinese model argued, "You could just wade around! Besides, none of us will let you drown—and surely that mister over there wouldn't," she looked pointedly at Kanda.

"She is not going in," Kanda stated. "Save us all the trouble."

"Don't you want to see?" Lenalee teased, smirking slightly as she rested her chin on the pool's edge. "Isn't that what you came here for?"

"See what?" Lavi interjected curiously.

"Reiichi in, well," Lenalee gestured to her body, "This."

"No," Lavi muttered after a moment's pause. "No. No. No. No freaking way!" he shouted, standing up fast in the pool. "Rei-chan, you—_You_ are wearing that underneath?" he demanded incredulously, now pushing himself out of the pool.

"I—Lavi, what the hell are you doing?" Reiichi panicked when Lavi suddenly came too close and he was getting her shirt wet. "What are you—" she yelped when her cousin excitedly started to pull at her shirt.

"I've got to see this," he insisted, grinning widely. "Lena-chan," he was saying as he started to pull her shirt up harder, "I salute you. I truly do."

"I knew someone else will see it my way," Lenalee nodded, watching them.

"LAVI!" Reiichi was trying desperately to keep her shirt down. "Stop it!"

Her cousin stopped. "Unless you want Yuu to do this?" he smirked at how her jaw just went _slack_—she was too mortified to even say anything. Taking advantage of the situation, he mercilessly yanked her shirt off, throwing it to some corner.

Allen sighed, watching the commotion from the pool. Sometimes, he figured Reiichi had it worse than him.

"Yes!" Lenalee punched her fist in the air, and Lavi didn't even try to keep his grin down.

The air breeze blew by, and Reiichi was painfully aware of the fact that she was technically wearing just a bra top and her shorts. She clutched her chest protectively; face getting redder—with both anger and embarrassment.

Without a word, she kicked Lavi, sending him backwards into the pool.

"Stupid, stupid, _stupid_, cousin," she grumbled, sitting down at the edge of the chair, not daring to turn back and look at Kanda.

"Tch," she heard him scoff.

She whipped around defensively and scowled deeply at the cool gaze he shot her. "What."

"It's just swimwear," he rolled his eyes, crossing his legs easily.

_It's just swimwear. _But somehow he just couldn't stop his eyes from roaming down to her chest.

"That's what you say," Reiichi snorted. "Wasn't this the only reason you came anyway?"

"As if," he sat up so that he could accentuate his point. "Why would _that_ be any reason for me?" he gave a pointed look to her almost naked flesh, smirking.

"Hm," Reiichi hummed nonchalantly, standing up so that she was just at the edge of the pool. "I have no idea either," she said, reaching up to tie her hair up—and Kanda's eyes were just glued at her bare back, delicate shoulder blades, and even her spine looked rather interesting—travelling down to eye the edge between her skin and shorts—

Then she placed one foot over the water and he tensed. Was she really going to jump in? Because personally he felt it was safer for her to not touch the water at all.

"What are you—" and then he really thought she was going to jump in and there was no way she was going in by herself, so he got up and went behind her.

He didn't expect Reiichi to sidestep him easily and push him viciously into the pool.

"What the fuck!" he demanded angrily, spitting out water when he emerged. "What the bloody hell was that for!"

Reiichi only gave him a glare and rubbed her bare arms absently, still feeling slightly uncomfortable wearing less than she was used to. "For your comment, jerk!" she muttered, scowling. "You think I'm wearing this for fun?"

"So, why are you wearing it?" he asked in return, pulling his wet tank off and rinsing it.

"Because—" she started off, but then she realised she didn't really want to say the real reason why.

Especially not when he was smirking darkly at her.

"Huh," Kanda muttered, advancing closer when she refused to look at him anymore.

Then his shadow fell upon her and she started to panic. "Kanda—" her sentence was cut short when he grabbed her around the waist and hauled her over his shoulder carelessly. "Put me down!" she demanded, hitting his back and trying to kick him, but he caught her ankles.

"This is embarrassing!" she hissed, but Kanda paid no heed as he started to walk further down the edge of the pool, away from where the other three were playing in the water.

"KANDA!" she screamed finally when it seemed like he was just ignoring her.

"What?" he asked, voice with a tinge of predatory intent. "This is payback for just now."

He stopped at the edge, feet hovering over the water like she did a few moments ago. Her eyes widened when she saw the depth of the water written at the corner.

_3 m._

He wouldn't throw her into the pool again right?

Kanda adjusted his hold by slipping one arm underneath her knees to carry her. Then he held her out, so that she was dangling dangerously above the water.

Wait, he wasn't going to—

She screamed when he let go of her suddenly, but caught her before she actually fell.

"K-kanda," she gripped his neck tightly. "Can you please put me down? Please?"

"No," he stated, an amused drawl in his tone.

"Kanda, I…" Reiichi refused to let him go. "I..I…I'll do anything! Just let me down, now!"

"Like what?" he hummed, raising an eyebrow.

"I—I don't know!" she pleaded frantically.

"That's not very enticing," he smirked.

"JUST LET ME DOWN!"

Kanda winced when she shouted at him. "Fine," he muttered, but then instead of putting her feet on the ground, he took a step forwards….

Into the pool.

Reiichi didn't know if she screamed, but immediately she hugged the closest person to her upon reflex with a death grip, some water entering in her nasal passage when they hit the pool. It was so cold, and she had her eyes screwed shut—

"Rei, stop strangling me," Kanda voice was so close to her ear, she could feel his breath.

She slowly opened her eyes, noting that her head was above the water. Still, she didn't release the grip on his neck as she clung to him. She couldn't feel anything below her feet—she was definitely shorter than 3 meters.

"Don't ever do that again!" she cried indignantly, scowling at the amused smirk he was shooting her with. "If you wanted me to die, I rather jump off the building myself!"

"Did you really think I would let you drown?" he rolled his eyes, treading water carefully whilst holding her body up.

He swam towards the other side of the pool, towards the area where the water seemingly flowed off the edge and into the vast sky. Reiichi curiously clung to the barrier when she reached it, peering over to see if she could see down the building. Unfortunately, there was a safety drain below.

But the scenery was more than beautiful, especially with the warmth of the sun on her skin and the light breeze was a cool contrast. Then she got distracted by something curving around her hip, occasionally soft pressures tickled her sensitive receptors.

"Now is _not_ the place to—"

"They aren't looking," he responded, glancing toward the other end where another loud splash was heard.

Though, what exactly was that?

* * *

When Allen meant Lavi was screwed, he meant it in the worst way possible. This was possibly the fifteenth—or was it fourteenth?—time that he was trying to _drown_ the stupid red head, but there was just one problem.

He wasn't dying.

"My God, will you stay dead?" Allen demanded, shoving Lavi below the water again, but he felt Lavi pulling his pants down—and he kicked the other irritably.

Lenalee was just shaking her head with laughter, occasionally looking out into the scenery.

"Allen-chan!" Lavi whined when he rose up and breathed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to kill me!" he laughed, tackling the other.

"Urgh—did you just kiss me?" the white hair boy nearly shrieked, horrified.

"Yes, I did," Lavi declared unabashed, snickering as Allen tried to rub his cheek like it actually helped.

"Do not touch me—I mean it," Allen warned dangerously, holding his hands out. "Do not _touch_ me,"

"Well then, I'll just _touch_ Lenalee—"

"Don't you dare go near to her!" he hissed furiously, losing his composure for a moment.

Lavi stilled at absolutely how _serious_ Allen had sounded—because he had just been joking all along. The white hair was sticking down due to it being wet, and it was hard for Lavi to see the expression on the other's face when Allen lowered his head. Even with the shouts from Reiichi from the other end, none of them could look away from Allen.

Lenalee was the one to break the silence. "Allen…" she started, coming forwards towards him, but he turned away and moved towards the edge of the pool before she reached him, pushing himself out of the water.

"It's not your fault, Lenalee," was all he said before walking off.

Lavi watched—and feeling guiltier by the second—though he did not know why.

"Red, _dude_," Lenalee frowned at him, crossing her arms. "Will it kill you to shut up sometimes?"

"But I don't even know what I said!" Lavi cried frantically.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" the female model had no hint of a smile on her lips.

"…Is that a rhetorical question?"

She only glared at him harder.

"No," Lavi answered immediately, suddenly fearing for his life. "You're not stupid,"

"Right," Lenalee agreed, wading towards the edge of the pool to get out as well. "So stop it."

Lavi blinked when it seemed like Lenalee had dropped the topic suddenly. He followed her out of the pool. "Um, Lena-chan, I didn't get it at all."

"Lavi, sometimes you _don't_ think, for someone with your kind of brain," Lenalee replied, pursing her lips. "Allen has asked you to drop the subject regarding me and him—and it will do you good to listen to him," she looked at him pointedly, then averting her eyes. "Because it will not work."

"How would you know?" Lavi demanded. "Allen clearly likes you and—"

He stopped at the look Lenalee was giving him. She was angry—or maybe furious—but his words died when he noticed something else in her eyes. Uneasiness. Hurt.

_Guilt_.

Her eyes narrowed, and she shoved him into the pool before he opened his mouth again.

"Like I said," Lenalee muttered softly before she turned away to find Allen. "You don't think."

* * *

_Of course_ he liked her.

Who didn't like her?

She was the first friend he ever had, the first person to tell him his scar made him look different but _good_—and that she never minded his arm or any physical imperfections, even if she herself clearly had none. She was kinder than anyone else he knew, and friendlier than anyone else he'd ever met.

She was his best _girl_ friend—the only one who knew his life pre-Cross. He trusted her more than life itself. It was inevitable. Truly, it was inevitable that he felt stronger for her than anyone else. He didn't know when he realised it, because it felt like he loved her along. He couldn't remember not loving her before she even came into his life.

And then four years ago he felt pumped up, _determined_ to let her know his feelings. He tried so hard to please her, doing things Komui started to bristle at—yet nothing worked, because she always gave him a smile that painfully reminded him that they were _just friends_. It was just a matter of time before he couldn't stand it anymore and said it straight to her face, even he was merely thirteen years of age—yet he was so _sure_ there wasn't anyone else he wanted to be with.

But the only words that echoed back at them since then were two words.

_I'm sorry._

"….Allen?" a soft delicate hand touched his arm, but he only stared out into the distant sky. "I'm sorry,"

"Don't say that," he responded, voice flat, and it seemed like she flinched slightly. "It's not your fault, Lenalee," he sighed eventually in a softer tone.

"Allen," she smiled sadly, cupping his cheek to make him look at her. "Look at me, Allen."

He did so reluctantly, and Lenalee's hand trembled at the mere sight of the expression he was giving her. For such a young boy, Allen was too mature for age, but he was forced to grow up. He didn't have a choice. She noticed he had grown taller—so much taller than the small boy so many years ago, and she swept his bangs out of his eyes.

"If I could…" she began, voice shaky.

"I don't ask for anything more," Allen smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

Lenalee lunged and hugged him tightly, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. She couldn't take it—not when Allen was looking at her like he did four years ago, the one that she couldn't accept—and she sobbed softly.

"I love you," she whispered amongst her tears. "You know that, don't you? I love you."

Allen swallowed, placing a hand on her back.

"I know," he murmured, titling his head to look at the infinitely blue sky, or maybe it was so that he wouldn't cry. "But it's just not the way I want you to."

* * *

"It's all your fucking fault," Kanda agreed without a hint of remorse at how Lavi whined louder.

"How was I supposed to know that they had something between them already?" the red head demanded.

"Even if you didn't," Reiichi sighed calmly, "I told you it was a bad idea."

"But Allen-chan could've told me—"

"Except for the part where he_ did_," his cousin cut him off, frowning.

"I meant the fact that he got rejected before!" Lavi insisted, grumbling. "I wouldn't have pushed him then!"

"Did you honestly think it is easy for him to tell you that?" Reiichi questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, no—"

"Admit it, skeezer," Kanda added, scowling. "It's all thanks to you."

Lavi let out a frustrated groan. "I know, I know—stop rubbing it in! Sheesh!" he paced around. "And Yuu!" he turned to shoot Kanda an annoyed look. "_You_ could've warned me at least!"

"Don't blame your stupidity on me," the model sneered. "You should've realised it yourself."

"Argh!" Lavi sulked.

"Look," Reiichi glared at Kanda to tell him he wasn't helping the situation at all. "Lavi, just apologise to them, okay? Especially to Allen."

"Okay," he mumbled obediently like a dejected boy.

"Lenalee," Reiichi cleared her throat awkwardly when she spotted the Chinese model only a few meters away from them. "Where's…" she trailed off, noting the absence of the youngest boy.

"He went to bathe first," Lenalee answered normally, but her eyes were slightly puffy, and that made Lavi feel even worse.

"Here ya go," Lavi offered Lenalee her shirt and shorts that she took off before she entered the pool awkwardly. "I..." he rubbed his neck uncomfortably. "I…"

"Thanks, Red," the model nodded nonchalantly, taking her clothes.

"Aw shit," Lavi swore before wrapping his arms around the petite girl. "Lena-chan," he began softly. "I...I'm sorry about it. You're right—I don't think much, and I caused something that shouldn't have happened," he apologized sincerely. "I just thought Allen would've loved a chance with yo—"

A hand shut his mouth. "Lavi," Lenalee rolled her eyes. "I get it. You're forgiven."

"Really?" the male redhead smiled hopefully. That went easier than he thought.

"But, my brother will be hearing that you hugged me," Lenalee continued, watching the colour drain from Lavi's face. "While I was in my swimsuit."

* * *

"Highcard," Lavi practically threw his cards on the floor, grumbling.

"Highcard," Kanda followed suit, except he really did throw his cards.

"One pair," Reiichi showed hers. A four pair.

"One pair," Lenalee showed a three pair.

Allen nonchalantly placed his cards on the floor. "Two pairs," he announced. "Six pair and Four pair. I win," he let a dark smile cross his lips, leaning forward to collect the poker chips thrown into the pot towards him.

"And I'm bankrupt!" Lavi whined.

During dinner, it seemed like everyone had gone back to normal. Reiichi hadn't known what transpired between Lavi and Allen, but it seemed like her cousin had apologized. She didn't have the heart to ask Lenalee about it when they went to their rooms and bathed—and perhaps it wasn't the right time to either. At least, there was no sense of awkwardness during their dinner, and she left it at that.

But she knew everyone was being lenient on Allen, and that was the only reason why they were all playing poker in her room.

_Texas Hold 'Em_ was relatively simple, in Reiichi's opinion, and she rather enjoyed the game when she played with her friends. That was why she didn't understand why Lavi and Kanda always refused to play when Allen suggested it, until today.

"I think," she said slowly, frowning at the one with the abnormal winning streak. "You are either incredibly lucky, or cheating," she huffed. "I vote for the latter."

"Of course he's cheating," Kanda spat, crossing his arms moodily. "If I didn't even get a fucking pair for the last seven rounds—he's cheating."

"Why, I'm hurt that you accuse me of such, Reiichi," Allen smiled innocently. "I merely got two pairs, that's all," at her skeptical look, he relented. "If you want to deal, go right ahead," offered the deck smiling. "I assure you that won't make any difference."

Reiichi hesitated for a moment, but she really did want to know if Allen was cheating or not—but it seemed impossible that he was, for he rolled up his sleeves and even removed his gloves when Kanda forced him to after winning for the third time in a row—yet the boy was still on a winning strike.

She took the deck, opening it. Nope, the deck looked random and there was no sign of him having attempted those shuffles in which he could arrange the deck in a pattern. She shuffled it herself, thinking.

Allen by far had the most number of chips, and she was sure if Allen raised his bet and either Kanda, Lenalee or her had to call, they'd have to go all in. It was perhaps, the final round.

"As much as I love you, Rei-chan," Lavi comment from the side, out of the game already. "You're going to lose."

"Shush," She waved him off, concentrating as she dealt everyone two cards.

Hers was a seven of hearts and a nine of hearts. Not too bad. Then she dealt the five community cards, leaving two of them face down.

One was the six of spades, an eight of spades, and the two of diamonds.

The atmosphere suddenly tensed as all players scrutinized their cards.

Left of the dealer started the bet, so Kanda grunted and threw a five coin in the middle. Allen immediately did likewise, since there wasn't much risk for him anyway. After some thought, Lenalee also added a coin, and she matched it too.

"The turn," she flipped the one card over.

The ten of spades.

She watched quietly as Kanda's fingers tightened around the cards, Lenalee started to tap on the ground—and Allen shuffled the two cards in his hands around. There wasn't much point in looking at their faces, because she knew all of them were consciously controlling their expressions—and usually people forgot to cover up other body language that gave them away, like their hands.

"Check," Kanda gritted out.

Allen raised an eyebrow coolly. "Well, I raise," he tossed in a fifty coin.

"What the fuck, you cannot be serious," Kanda demanded, slamming the floor.

"Call or fold, Kanda," Allen smiled back calmly.

The male model chucked one of his few coins left into the pot, grumbling.

"Call," Lenalee said confidently, flicking her own coin into the pot.

Reiichi glanced at her cards one more time. With the community cards, she had a six, seven, eight, nine and ten already. A Straight. "I'll raise it too," Reiichi grinned slightly, pushing all her remaining chips into the pot. Truthfully, she only had 80 in value for all her remaining chips anyway. "All in."

Kanda sent her a suspicious look and pushed his last two coins into the pot, since there wasn't any more he had left. "All in then."

Allen sent a hard smile at them both. "Are you absolutely sure?" he asked. "I'm giving you one last chance before we end this game too early."

Reiichi noticed he was gripping his cards tighter despite the smile, and she had an inkling he was merely trying to intimidate them. "Your call," she shrugged.

"I'll go all in too," Allen replied, lacing his fingers together. "Since if I win, the game is over."

Lenalee only stared at her cards in deep thought, occasionally sending Allen suspicious looks. "Are you sure you aren't cheating?"

"Are you suspecting me too?" he asked in return, smiling brightly.

"I've know you better than to just suspect," Lenalee replied with a huff before pushing her small pile of coins to the pot to match all their bets. "All in."

"That leaves the last card," Reiichi nodded flipping the last one over.

The ten of hearts.

"Fuck! Highcard," Kanda threw his two cards, a three of hearts and four of diamonds on the floor.

"Hah!" Lavi snickered.

"I've got a Straight," Reiichi grinned showing her cards.

"Better yet," Lenalee slid her cards open to reveal a ten of diamonds and the eight of diamonds. "I've got a Full House."

Lavi whistled. "That's pretty boss, Lena-chan."

All eyes set upon the last boy who was still smiling undisturbed.

"There's no way you could've gotten higher than a Full House," Lavi frowned, then grinned. "Maybe, you're just in shock that you, _you_, _Allen Walker_—lost his first game in poker."

The long stretch of silence became uncomfortable.

"Wait, you lost?" Lenalee demanded, looking at the youngest boy incredulously. "I was so sure you had a good hand!"

"Perhaps," Allen sighed finally, and everyone else was just too shocked in speech.

"…._Not_."

He laid down the two cards he was holding.

Seven of spades and the nine of spades.

"Holy _fucking_ shit—you can't have a Straight Flush! There's absolutely no fucking way—"

"Seeing is believing, Kanda," Allen grinned, raking in all the chips. "What did I say?"

"I don't believe it either," Reiichi narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Give it up, Rei-chan," Lavi sang. "You'll never win against the Cheating Boy~"

"Don't call me that," Allen grumbled, pushing the cards together so that he could shuffle them into a deck again.

"Lenalee, hasn't Allen ever lost?" she turned to the other girl.

"Well," the Chinese model sat back thinking. "_No_."

"We can always go another around," Allen suggested.

"But it's boring!" Lavi interjected, flopping back to lie on the carpeted floor. "The chips aren't real money, so there's no thrill—"

"I am all for playing with real money," Allen immediately stated.

"—except you'd suck all of it in your black hole," the male redhead finished. "I vote for strip poker."

"Where's the logic in that?" Reiichi demanded.

"With clothes," her cousin explained, "You could put it back on. Money doesn't come back to you," he clapped his hands, sitting up excitedly. "So who's up for strip poker?"

"I'm sitting out of this ridiculous game—"

"Yuu-chan! Are you going to deny Rei-chan of your sexy body? Because it's totally unfair if you get to see hers and—"

"Shut up," Reiichi hissed, trying to control her blush. "I'm not exactly keen on this either—"

Lenalee grinned at her, and she just knew what the other was thinking."I'm in for this," she highfived Lavi, and at the corner of her eye, she saw Allen glance at her unsurely.

"If Allen hasn't lost a single game of poker yet," Reiichi tried to reason. "We'd just all lose in the end, won't we?"

"What if," Lavi hummed, thinking, "For Allen-chan's case, if he loses, then he takes off _everything_," he smirked. "All or nothing."

"What!" Allen protested indignantly.

"Unless of course, you think you're going to lose—"

"You will regret ever saying that."

Truthfully, Lavi was more scared of Allen's smile than anything else.

* * *

"Cheating," Lavi muttered underneath his breath. There was just no way to explain why he was currently stripped down to his pants and the other was still fully clothed. "Cheating. Definitely, cheating."

"Don't be a sore loser," Allen quipped happily. "Now, off with those pants."

"Cheating!" the male redhead cried before tugging his jeans off.

Kanda wasn't much better off than him, but at least he kept his pants on. He wasn't much worried about his state, actually, but the girl beside him who was huddled with her legs pressed to her shirtless top. It wasn't fair that the first time he ever saw her pull off her shirt was when they were playing a stupid game—and everyone else was watching _him_ instead of her when she did that. Lenalee had suppressed some sort of glee coming from her mouth, Lavi was just _laughing_ out loud—and even the Moyashi was smirking at him.

Shit. He wasn't that obvious, was he?

Allen only watched amused as he dealt yet another hand—why they insisted on playing strip poker with _him_ was truly astounding. He even had enough time to glance at the girl next to him, and Lenalee caught his gaze and smiled back.

"The turn," he called, flipping over the first card.

There were collective groans coming from the other three. "Anyone going to fold?" he chuckled, setting his cards down.

He already had a combo and it was a good one at that—four of a kind.

"Fold," Lavi sniffed. "I'm keeping my underwear on, thank you very much."

"I fold as well," Reiichi eventually groaned, setting her cards down. "I'm not stripping any more, either."

"Fuck it," Kanda leaned back, leaving his cards unturned at his feet.

"The term is _fold_, BaKanda," Allen couldn't help the smirk, because maybe this was the first time ever that the proud jerk actually willingly gave up.

"Fuck you—"

"Lenalee?" he turned to the last one expectantly.

"I think I'll stay," she smiled. "Next card."

Allen's fingers paused over the last card hesitantly. He actually thought Lenalee would fold, considering all others had already done so. If he won this round—which was obvious that he would—she would have to take off her _bra_….and he sort of didn't want that.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Flip it, Allen," was all Lenalee replied, and she was looking at her cards intently, missing the obvious distress on his face.

This wasn't about _him_ per say, but it was more of the fact that he knew Komui would go ballistic that his precious sister was about to do something like this—and the horror was that _he_ would be blamed, because he wasn't going to lose!

"The river," he continued on reluctantly, flipping the last card over. "Do you want to fold?" he asked again, silently begging her to say yes.

"Nope," Lenalee breathed in deeply, smiling.

Maybe, _he_ should fold, so that she wouldn't have to strip—but then he'd have to take off everything instead!

"Show cards!" Lavi demanded, looking intrigued.

"I'm truly sorry, Lenalee—" Allen started, smiling uncomfortably, setting down his pair of cards. "Four of a kind."

"Cheating!" Lavi sang again, frowning.

"I wasn't," the youngest boy rolled his eyes. "I did warn you," he gave Lenalee a small smile.

"And there was a reason why I didn't heed it," the Chinese model turned her cards around to show the rest.

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"L-lenalee," Allen coughed. "A..A straight flush? But..but I…" he furrowed his eyebrows trying to think. "I knew the cards you had! They were definitely not these! How could—" he stopped abruptly. "You couldn't," he stated flatly.

Lavi couldn't hold back his laughter anymore and he howled at the top of his lungs. "Thanks Brit!" he cheered. "You just admitted to us that you were c-h-e-a-t-i-n-g CHEATING!"

"Che, I fucking knew it," Kanda added in, now smirking. "Your turn to strip, brat. All of it."

Allen ignored them both. "How…"

"Well…" Reiichi grinned, winking at him, and then it dawned upon him.

"You guys cheated?" he accused, eyes flashing. "That's why all of you folded, so that you could pass the best cards to Lenalee!"

"All's fair in love and war," Lavi grinned.

"This is neither—"

"It was war," he declared seriously.

"Guys!" Allen protested, groaning. "I do not accept this outcome."

"Be a man and suck it up, Moyashi," Kanda snorted. "You lost."

"I did not!" Allen denied furiously, still in denial. "Lenalee!" he turned to the other girl who was trying hard not to laugh, perhaps for his sake. "Why did you…"

"I just wanted to see your expression if you lost," the Chinese girl admitted. "Sorry, dude," she smiled apologetically, but her eyes were shinning with amusement.

"Moyashi-chan!" Lavi clapped his hands happily. "Strip, strip, STRIP!"

"Shut up you pervert!" Allen scowled.

But then, he didn't have a choice.

* * *

After the event that dubbed the day as _the first time wherein Allen Walker lost at poker_, they decided to rummage through the freezer and empty the wine bottles whilst talking off their high. It had been a good day, Reiichi mused after taking a bath, raising an eyebrow at how her cousin was trying to drag Allen closer to where Lenalee had knocked out on the floor.

"I thought you were over this," she commented, sighing at his antics.

"Nope," he growled as he pushed the sleeping boy next to the girl—damn, he was so much heavier than he looked—placing Allen's limp arm across Lenalee's waist. "Just giving him an opportunity."

"But—"

"The plan is now to make Lena-chan fall in love with Allen," her cousin frowned in concentration, thinking of more ways to position the sleeping duo. Perhaps he could tangle their legs as well.

"You cannot make someone fall love with whoever you want," she stated, skeptical. "If something else happens—you better be responsible for it."

Lavi shrugged. "Sure—oh hey, Yuu-chan!" he waved his friend who had just entered the room in fresh attire after using the bath in their room.

"Go take a bath," Kanda stated. "You smell horrible."

"It's just the alcohol," Lavi whined, sniffing his own breath. "Key," he gestured to the other, and Kanda slapped the key card into his hands.

"I don't think Lena-chan would mind if you used her bed, by the way," Lavi commented mildly before exiting the room to head to the other.

It took both awake occupants the ominous click of the door to realize what exactly the red head had meant.

"Fuck!" Kanda ran his hand through his hair exasperatedly. "He had his own fucking key!"

"….and he took Allen's one as well," Reiichi said, slapping her forehead.

They could hear laughter coming from the walls.

Really, were they so naïve to believe Lavi had forgotten about them just because he was matchmaking another couple?

They both sighed simultaneously.

* * *

Lavi stationed himself at the balcony of the other room, lying stomach down on the floor like a soldier, camera poised in his hands. With a good angle, he could focus the camera into the other room whose curtains were still not yet drawn—he was hoping his cousin or best friend didn't actually _think_ of sleeping so soon—and after a few adjustments he could capture the faces of the younger duo snoozing on the floor.

Of course, he had purposely positioned them as close to the window as he could for a reason. Letting the shutter click when he found a right moment, he leaned back to see the result. The night lights of the city were reflected upon the window, and that created a timeless like quality around the subjects. But it was the expression on both their faces that caught his breath, because they just looked so content and carefree like they were existing in their own world.

Lavi believed Allen and Lenalee _did _have their own world, but perhaps it was just waiting to be discovered.

Pictures never lie.

He focused another quiet shot to see if he could capture another moment, but his view was blocked by a flash of skin. He realised it was Reiichi trying to cover the sleeping kids with a blanket, and she also tried to place a pillow under their heads. He set the camera down, letting a smile drift on his lips and watched fondly.

His best friend was just watching from the side—not that Lavi expected him to _help_ or anything—but he caught a hand sneaking towards Reiichi before it curled around her arm, and she stopped to glance at the offender.

Lavi so desperately wanted to press the button on his camera, but his hands weren't moving. The look at transpired between the people he loved most had no words to describe, because even from his position, he could clearly see the _moment_. It wasn't like a flirtation attempt, or just a feel of attraction, but it was something strong, something unique—and clearly private.

But he couldn't tear his eyes away, even when the two leaned closer, most likely unconsciously, before they were barely a few centimeters apart, and he caught his cousin close her eyes before his best friend closed the distance.

His finger just slipped and took a picture, but he didn't bother to check if the focus or angle was right.

It was times like these where his heart felt strangely full, yet he felt the need to fill it with something unexplained.

Maybe, he thinks, setting his camera onto the floor, he should get a girl too.

…

Nah.

* * *

_Omake_

"MY PRECIOUS LENALEE!" Komui screamed hysterically, hands frantically abusing his speed dial button. "HOW C-COULD SHE?" he sobbed.

_The number you are calling cannot be reached. Please try again later._

"I thought you gave her permission about this already?" Reever groaned, sipping his coffee and tried not to pretend that he actually knew the insane person sitting next to him in a café.

That only prompted the Chinese to wail louder. "SHE TOLD ME SHE WAS GOING WITH REIICHI-KUN! NOT WITH THOSE…THOSE—"

Reever only turned away sighing as predictable lines rolled out of friend cum boss' mouth.

"—WITH THOSE THOSE—FIENDS! DIGUSTING DIRTY LITTLE B-_BOYS_!" Komui gripped his phone tightly, visibly anguishing. "ESPECIALLY THAT FOUL MOUTH AND RED HAIRED PERVERT—MY INNOCENT LENALEE WILL BE CORRUPTED!"

"I highly doubt either of the two boys will do anything to Lenalee," Reever tried to placate him. "At least, Allen will have enough sense to—"

The phone in Komui's hands clattered loudly on the ground.

"Did you say Allen?" The CEO asked calmly, pushing his glasses up.

"Well, yes—"

Reever was not prepared for the sheer degree of Komui's shriek of horror.

* * *

**Owari.**

YES I KNOW TOTAL SELF INDULGENT CHAPTER. Thank you for reading all the way to the end, because I myself got sick of scrolling down HAHAHA.

This is what prompted me to write this chapter: _Allen loses at poker for the first time._ XD

So**Watashi-wa-inori-tsuzukeru** and **Kyttihawk **requested (maybe more of you did, I'm not sure) a scene wherein Reiichi falls sick. I thought it'd be cuter if Kanda fell sick and he acts all whiny and stuff but oh well. :D I made Reiichi a difficult patient because it's no fun if she's a good girl all the time—and isn't it funnier to see Kanda stress about it? :D :D /totally for self serving purposes.

Yes, it's true some people cannot swallow pills lol. I CAN'T. OTL OTL OTL

Link. I brought him back because **Ochibi-sama **requested the scene wherein Kanda found out about Reiichi's ex-crush—and I'm so damn happy you guys can figure it out though it was just two mere passing mentions in the X'mas chapter and chapter 27. :D. But since it'd be odd to write a flashback out of nowhere, I just added him in the chapter for the fun. I hope that's acceptable?

Allena wasn't going to be so tragic, actually. But it just…became tragic. Don't hate Lenalee D: It's not her fault she doesn't like Allen the way he wants her to. D: I _might_ totally write their story, but it will be in another fic by itself.

Sad news is that I got rejected by my country's Med school, so I'm heading to UCL to study neuroscience in September. Any one of you there?

The next chapter will take long because I need to figure out the fate of this fic.

It will either be

a) Random things that I (or you, if you suggest) want Kanda and Reiichi to do.

b) The last ever chapter, i.e, ending/epilogue etc.

c) An author's note stating that I've decided to write the Allena fic first, and the ending/epilogue will be written as a separate oneshot to include everyone's happy ever after

d) An author's note stating that I've decided to write a Kanchi sequel with focus on the Noah's side of the story that will lead to their ending/epilogue

LET ME WARN: I AM AN INDECISIVE PERSON.

This chapter: 63 pages and 25, 405 words of random nonsense.

Make the review mark reach 400? :D :D :D


	41. Chapter 38

**-Imitation Black-**

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Reiichi jumped involuntarily as she had not been expecting his deep familiar voice so close to her ear. She whipped around, arms hugging her chest on reflex. She was very aware of how she could feel his breathing tickling against her skin, and even the heat of his body. The person in question gave an amused snort and smirked upon seeing how her face flushed upon seeing him—and he also noticed her eyes trailing down his bare torso.

Kanda couldn't really blame her, for his toned body was quite blatantly the hottest in their industry, and that was saying something. Actually he never really thought of how he even got this kind of bod—just that it came with the continuous years of Kendo, swimming, and exercising. Of course he knew how much people liked his body, because the constant molestation he received on a guaranteed basis when he was out in public told him a lot, but he never really wanted that kind of attention—until now.

He merely arched an eyebrow at Reiichi when her gaze came back up to meet his, and he saw her eyes widen in mortification at what she had been doing—checking him out—and then came the very familiar look of denial that she had been doing something his fangirls did all the time, and she stubbornly scowled to herself, keeping silent.

Kanda snorted, rolling his eyes as he kept his smirk on that he knew annoyed her more, sauntering past her to sit at the edge of the pool.

"Quit standing there and get in," he tapped the floor impatiently, dipping his feet in the pool to test the temperature of the water. It was warm.

"I was waiting for you," Reiichi huffed in return, and reluctantly walked over to sit next to him. "Can we not do this?" she asked, eyeing the water below them uneasily.

"And I told you my answer—_no_."

"But _why_?" she groaned, hugging her legs to her chest. "I don't want to learn and I don't need to learn!"

It was a few days after their little holiday at the hotel when Lavi proposed they go swimming again, since the other time he caused a little rift that ended their swimming fun earlier than they had planned to be in the water. And then he insisted that his dear cousin _had_ to learn how to swim because it's not fun to just watch Kanda and her flirt in the water—a comment that she shoved him for.

She had no idea that Kanda even agreed to it—wasn't this kind of troublesome?—until just half an hour ago when he told her to go change into the appropriate attire for her first ever lesson. That led to a rather long drawn out argument until he threatened to drag her into the pool himself, and she knew there was no escaping it.

"You do," he deadpanned at how she was practically whining. "I am _not_ your personal damn hero who is going to save you every single time you get thrown into the sea or pool—so start to learn how to save yourself," he scoffed, but inwardly he knew he would dive in anyway.

"It's not like I ask for people to throw me into the water," she muttered.

"Are you bitching?"

"I am not!"

"Huh," Kanda eyed her like he didn't believe her.

With a swift motion, he let himself down into his heated indoor pool, water sloshing up to his chest. The temperature was warm and comfortable, and it felt great against his skin. He dunked his head under the water to make himself completely wet, finally standing straight up to tie his hair at the base of his neck.

Reiichi merely watched him—or rather how the water droplets slid down his bare _perfect_ back—then she realised Kanda was taking great delight in watching her expressions.

"Are you getting in?" he demanded, crossing his arms impatiently. "We don't have all night."

"But I don't want to," she admitted honestly, not moving.

"We've been over this," he sighed irritably. "Get in before I throw you in."

Honestly, Kanda couldn't comprehend why she didn't want to enter—it was just a pool, and they are at the shallowest end of the pool too. It wasn't like her head wouldn't be above the water, and obviously she wasn't going to drown when he was around.

"I really don't want to!" she insisted, now grimacing.

After all the bad experiences she had of large volumes of water—that time Kanda personally threw her in and she nearly drowned, or what about that time when Daisya pushed her in the sea and she nearly drowned again, or maybe that time when Kanda jumped into the pool carrying her that erased at least ten years of her life. Come to think of it, her phobia of water now was mostly because of him!

Kanda growled at how stubborn she could be, pushing himself out onto the edge again. "Rei…" he threatened, eyes narrowing. "One," he started counting. "Two."

She scrambled up when she realised he had every intention of following through his threat, backing away as fast as she could once she noted the predatory glint in his eyes. "Kan—" but considering she had tried many times to evade him and failed, she should have known he was going to catch her anyway.

Kanda pulled her by the arm back to the edge again, forcing her to stand facing the water whilst he stood behind her in case she tried to back away again. "Get in," he prodded, then he noticed she was still wearing her shorts. "Wait. Take that off first."

Reiichi followed his line of sight to the article of clothing that she wore over the bottoms of her swimsuit. "No!" she refused immediately, and then as if suddenly conscious that she was merely wearing her bikini top on, she hugged her chest protectively again.

"It will restrict your movements when you swim," he explained, frowning at her reaction. "What are you being all embarrassed for?" he demanded. "It's not like I haven't seen you in this before."

True, but it was only the _second_ time she was wearing this and she still felt awkward in it. It just felt too bare—too exposed, and she didn't even know if she looked okay wearing it. Lenalee had insisted it looked great—but during their last swimming session; she was sorely reminded that Lenalee was a model and she wasn't.

She didn't have as a great figure as Lenalee did. She didn't have perfectly proportioned assets nor did she have a well toned body either. She was just…_skinny_—from her genes—and Kanda had commented rather frequently on how she was going to _disappear_ if she didn't eat more. It wasn't like she chose not to have a curvier, sexier body.

Perhaps her silence showed her lack of confidence, or maybe she was just getting too easy to read, because Kanda sighed, a slight tone of aggravation apparent. "You look fine, so just hurry up about it."

His words were _nearly_ a compliment—but he never gave compliments—so she couldn't deny that it made her feel slightly less hesitant. Still reluctantly, she slid her shorts off, folding them and putting them at the side. She sat down, rubbing her now extremely bare legs self-consciously.

"Are you still trying to bide your time?" Kanda demanded, hand impatiently pushing her from behind.

"Yes," she admitted, dipping a foot in the water experimentally.

She wasn't prepared for the shove that Kanda mercilessly pushed from behind her, and she yelped in shock before she hit the water, splashing ungracefully. In panic, she thrashed around for a bit before hands hauled her up, pulling her to stand up—and she found with much relief that she was standing on solid ground with her head still above the water.

"Why did you do that?" she cried indignantly, shoving Kanda in retaliation. "You know I don't even want to do this!"

"Precisely," he responded coolly. "Face your fears and all that shit."

She huffed, standing in the water awkwardly. "Okay, now that I'm in…what am I supposed to do?"

Kanda leaned against the side of the pool as he explained. "We'll start with the easiest style of swimming , that is the breaststroke," he began, trying to make sure he was making eye contact with her but his gaze kept slipping downwards every so often, "Place your hands together close to you, and then push it out, turn your hands so that they face outwards and push back your arms," he demonstrated easily. "And in tandem with that, you kick out with your legs."

"Easier said than done," she immediately commented.

"Just try it against the edge first," he instructed. "Hands," he tapped the edge, and she placed her hands there after setting her goggles on, gripping it. "Now, try to float."

_Float_. If she could float, she probably wouldn't have thought she was going to drown all the times she was in a large volume of water. She kicked up, but her legs still sunk to the bottom after a few seconds. She heard Kanda let out a snort—a similar one to the time when he tried to teach her to make soba—and she scowled at him.

"I told you I can't—"

"You're too tense," he said, pushing her head down into the water again.

But what he did after that sent tingles down her spine, because he placed an arm beneath her legs and raised them up, forcing her to stretch out straight at the surface of the water. She could feel him correcting her posture as he ran his other hand below her stomach, occasionally brushing his thumb across her belly button. She choked when she accidentally hitched her breath unconsciously, coughing out water after she came up for desperate air.

"Kanda!" she splashed water in his direction, face slightly red. "If you are not going to be serious then I'm not continuing this lesson!"

"Che, fine," he wiped the water out of his eyes. "Again," he snapped his fingers. "Float."

She tried again, and this time she made sure her head was above the water so that she wouldn't involuntarily drink in water if he tried something again. She managed to float for a while until he deemed it was okay to move to the next step.

"Now, you bend your legs slightly, open them out, and bring them back together quickly," at her blank look, he demonstrated. "There should be a push of water after your kick."

"Okay."

Kanda sat back and watched while she attempted the leg stroke. It was better than seeing her fail at floating, he mused, but the kick looked slightly off. "Your angle here," he caught one of her feet and held it at the correct position just below the water's surface. "Now, kick out."

He wasn't prepared for the kick to his jaw that sent him back into the water reeling.

Reiichi was chuckling amused when he surfaced spluttering, but she did look slightly worried. "Sorry, I really didn't mean to do that," she smiled, coming towards him to touch his face. "Does it hurt?"

He gave her a pointed look. He didn't even know people could kick that _hard_—and it was to his jaw even. He flexed his jaw experimentally and was relieved to know it wasn't broken. But for sure, there was a slight bit of soreness.

"Sorry," Reiichi grinned again, because the situation was actually pretty funny. "Consider it payback?"

"Hn, not accepted," he scowled. "And quit trying to procrastinate. Get back and practice."

Sighing, she did as she was told. Truthfully, the position felt awkward and weird in the beginning, but after doing them again and again, she was starting to see how the leg movements would propel her forward in the water.

"I'm going for one lap—and don't you dare step out any deeper from here," Kanda announced suddenly when he got bored of watching. "You keep to the edge and practice."

She would have said that she wouldn't have willingly gone any deeper anyway, but he pushed off after snapping his goggles on, sending a surge of water back towards her direction. From her position she couldn't really see very clearly but she knew he was swimming extremely fast from the disturbance of water when he came up from the air. Within less than a minute, he was already coming back, and this time she could see him thrust his body up with each breath he took in the butterfly stroke.

"I said practice," was the first thing Kanda said to her after he stopped beside her, pulling down his goggles.

"I think I'm okay," she replied.

He scrutinized her for a few moments and she sincerely hoped it wasn't too obvious that she had been watching him swim all along.

"Give me your hands."

"Huh?"

He held out both his hands palm up in the water. "Give me your hands," he repeated.

Gingerly she placed hers in his, wondering what he was trying to do. His hands held hers firmly, and she tried not to blush at how random the hand holding was. "Could you…explain at least?"

"You do the leg stroke, I'll lead you across the pool," he stated. "Come up for air in between your kicks—make it in rhythm."

Oh.

She nodded, lowering her head down beneath the water as she kicked off. She was facing directly down at the floor as she floated for a bit first before kicking out, looking at his feet that were steadily walking backwards across the breath of the pool. Coming up for air sounded so simple, but she realised it actually required effort to push her upper body out of the water to breathe.

Once she accidentally breathed in earlier than she should have, causing her to panic—because all she tasted was sickly water that clogged her throat, and she felt herself being pulled up quickly and a hand was slapping her back, trying to make her cough.

She didn't know she had closed her eyes throughout it all until she opened them unsteadily when she calmed down.

"…You alright?"

She gripped Kanda's arms tightly, head lowered. It wasn't a very pleasant feeling to recall the number of times she thrashed valiantly in the water with the feel of liquid entering her mouth passages unwanted.

"Again."

She shook her head.

"I won't let you drown," he was speaking at a softer tone than she usually heard. "Trust me."

Slowly, she did. When she started again—she felt him help her along parts when she screwed up the timings, and eventually it got easier. She didn't know how many times Kanda had led her up and down, but finally he stopped and she head crashed into him accidentally.

She surfaced breathing heavily, half panting. Who knew it was so tiring to swim? And she wasn't even swimming _yet_. She pulled her goggles off to let it hang around her neck as she sighed in obvious relief that they were taking a break.

"Was it okay?" she asked.

He shrugged. "You were getting tired."

True, she wasn't exactly very fit from the start, but that sounded kind of insulting. "I know," she grumbled.

"You sit out for a while and let me swim."

It sounded more like a command than a request, but she was glad to take it anyway. Heaving herself out of the pool, she breathed and let the cool air of the room touch her wet skin as she sat at the edge, watching Kanda take off again like a pure professional.

From where she was she could see clearer—his body form moving swiftly beneath the surface water—it was like there wasn't any water resistance at all. He was swimming freestyle, and a cloud of white water trailed after his path. It was pretty mesmerizing to watch how he glided in the water like it was so natural.

She know how many laps he had swum, because after a while, she was lying back down staring at his ceiling. She really did feel tired, but somehow she felt more relaxed as well, and certainly that warranted a sleepy sensation when she lay down at the edge with her legs still dangling in the water.

* * *

Kanda came back after he felt he had sufficiently done enough laps for the day, and blinked when he saw Reiichi lying down with her eyes closed looking content. He pushed himself out beside her, causing water from his body to cascade to the floor, but she didn't seem to react to it either.

He shook her lightly by the shoulder. No response. She couldn't have…._slept_, could she? But her hands were resting on her stomach that rose and fell in a peaceful rhythm with her chest. At least, now he could look at her as much as he wanted to without her covering herself up in reflex. His eyes trailed from the delicate collarbone to the curve of her cleavage, and then finally eyeing the front assets in general.

She wasn't as big as all the other girls he had slept with, but her size suited her body frame anyway. He was reaching out to _touch_—and then he stopped himself when he realised what he was doing. No, she wouldn't appreciate it if he randomly molested her, especially since the big reaction he got from just unclasping her bra the other time; he wasn't quite sure how she'd react.

Actually, why was he even hesitating? He couldn't even remember wondering about any girl's reaction to his touch—except pleasure—but somehow, he always kept stopping himself from going too far with Reiichi. It wasn't like she was one to speed things up either, and so their physical relationship didn't evolve very far.

Was it because she was too shy with his touch? Or was it because he was scared to take the next step?

And it wasn't fair, because he _really_ wanted her.

He leaned closer to her face, noting that she was letting out breaths through her lips. Her lips parted when she breathed, and he was so close that he could practically feel her breath. Maybe he could kiss her before she woke up—and then he remembered he had the exact same thoughts once before.

Suddenly, Reiichi's eyes snapped open and her breathing stopped—he actually _felt_ it stop—and she just stared in shock for a good minute. Then slowly, her face started to colour, and she looked like she wanted to say something, but was too tongue tied to say anything.

Charming.

It was nearly a year, yet she still looked so flustered when he came close to her, and he knew her heartbeat was racing at a million kilometers per hour in her veins. Her hands were also trembling when she reached up to touch his shoulder. She stiffened slightly, her breath hitched, pupils dilated—all signs he knew was caused by him and _only_ him—and he smirked at that.

But what changed was that she let out a shy smile before pulling him down to meet his lips.

He welcomed it, nipping her lips gently at first and staring straight into her eyes that started to cloud with want. Smirking slightly, he slipped his tongue in her mouth to lead a deep kiss, curving his hand just at the base of her jaw to angle them better. Despite the cool air of the room, he felt the temperature of his skin getting hotter with the seconds. Everywhere was the smell of water and chlorine and wet skin—especially her scent that infiltrated his senses.

Since they were barely wearing any clothes to begin with, which Kanda was extremely thankful for, the touching between them felt more personal and intimate than ever. He ran his other free up her body, feeling the delicate bumps of her ribs until he brushed the curve of her breasts, teasing the part of the flesh he never touched before, eliciting some gasps and jerky scratches on his back.

He should have known that once he started, it was getting very hard to stop, especially when she started to touch that sensitive part of his back which prompted him to turn on the aggressive that he knew she couldn't keep up with. Before he knew it he was already straddling her, hot tongue running down her neck and towards the collarbone, sucking at the spots he knew she blanked her mind over, not caring if he was making a trail of red splotches that marked her sensitive areas.

All she knew was that it was getting hotter and it felt _good_. She tried so hard to keep the sounds that kept threatening to slip out down, biting her lip like her life depended on it because she couldn't believe that _she_ was the one moaning so suggestively when he purposely brushed his thumb with feather touches across her neck.

Kanda growled in his deep baritone in her ear when he started to pay attention to the edge of her jaw. "Don't keep it in," he muttered darkly, sending a jolt of electricity right down to the base of her abdomen.

She couldn't even answer, because she was just that lost in the sensations threatening to overwhelm her. She never done anything like this before, and it felt like their physical relationship had been mere childplay prior to this. She never dwelt upon what Lavi meant by how _good in bed_ Kanda was until now, and it seemed like he was merely teasing her even now.

She heard him groan against her lips when he started on a second round with his mouth, this time with more fervor. He was satisfied when she responded immediately, even hooking her arms around his neck to pull him closer, and she even arched into his touch when he boldly cupped her right breast. He didn't know how long they had been making out on his floor, but it was too good to stop anyway, so he grinded his hips against hers to create more delicious friction in his lust induced haze—

That was when Reiichi broke the kiss by pushing him away slightly, eyes wide and unsure. She was panting heavier than ever, hair mussed and lips red and swollen from his attack. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then it closed, and more blood rushed to her face.

It was as if she just realised what they had been doing—especially their state of lack of clothes.

Kanda started to feel a sense of dread when she looked away uncertainly, an awkward expression on her features. Maybe he had been too impatient.

"….I," he said eventually when it seemed like Reiichi couldn't meet his eyes. "…shouldn't have done that,"

Reluctantly he leaned back and allowed her some breathing space, and she sat up slowly, still casting her eyes to the floor. He honestly hoped he didn't screw up anything—like god forbid, she avoiding him again.

"No…y-you…" she blurted out suddenly, then slapped a hand over her mouth.

"I what?"

Reiichi was blushing so hard, he was sure she couldn't turn any redder. "Nothing," she said quickly.

"Spit it out," he growled impatiently.

She kept her eyes firmly trained on the floor, but for one second, her gaze darted towards his lower torso. She covered her face with one hand, trying to hide her embarrassment, but obviously it wasn't helping much.

"I won't do it again, okay?" he sighed, slightly put off at how she stopped him when they _only_ nearly went to second base—that meant he had to try harder to control himself.

"No, I…" Reiichi squeezed her eyes exasperatedly shut. "I felt…._it_. I was just…shocked and…"

"Felt what?" Kanda asked, now getting confused.

"Your…e—"

It was when she looked at the direction of his swimming pants again that he got the message. With the lycra material, it was rather obvious that she could see—and feel—his desire.

"Just because I'm _hard_ doesn't mean I'm going to rape you, if that's what you're worried about," he stated bluntly, not caring at how she buried her face in between her legs.

She just couldn't comprehend how he could say that like he was talking about the weather.

"I-I know!" she groaned, shaking her head furiously. "I just…" She never felt one, much less _seen_ one, and to do both of that today was like shattering whatever she had left of her innocence. She coughed awkwardly when another question breached her mind. If he was okay with not having sex with her, then how was _that_ going to go away?

_What else _was the sharp retort in her conscience, and she cursed herself for even thinking.

Kanda watched the embarrassed tinge of pink colour her cheeks adorably as she stared at the floor, fidgeting with her hands. Once or twice she seemed like she was trying to make an effort to say something, but it failed and it then occurred to him that they had long way to go—and he also had a lot of _things_ to teach her if she couldn't even look at him now.

"Come on," He commanded, standing up and stretching for a bit. "Go and bathe. It's getting late,"

"The lesson—"

"We will continue another time," he responded.

Reiichi nodded, carefully keeping her eyes on the upper portion of his body as she stood up, trailing after him after taking her shorts that she folded along with her. He threw a towel at her, and she wrapped it around her body huddling in the warmth that it gave out.

"Kanda…" she started out softly when he made to exit first and he paused in his step.

He only sent her a questioning glance and she came closer to him.

"Thank you," was all she said before tiptoeing and kissing him on the cheek.

He stared stunned for a few seconds. "…For?"

"For waiting," a bashful pink tint painted her cheeks as she smiled at him shyly again before walking out first to go to her room.

Kanda let a half smile rise to his lips a minute after she left, trying to make his heart stop fluttering with that small action of affection. It always felt good when she thanked him—and she always thanked him for the smallest things that made him feel appreciated.

He didn't expect her to understand how hard it was for him to abstain from sex–especially when she just slept next door to him, and before he met her, he just satisfied the urges whenever he felt like it. But now he had an obligation to one person. This person fulfilled more than just his physical desires, because she also kept him emotionally stable. She didn't grate on his nerves, and he never felt more peaceful when she just sat and leaned on him.

He found it so odd that he never thought much of her in the beginning—she was just a designer whose portfolio looked the most interesting out of her entire school, and it seemed like Lavi would've agreed to his choice, so he picked her.

Perhaps it was fate that she just _had_ to be Lavi's cousin.

He didn't expect to suffer matchmaking plans with her.

He didn't expect to feel so horrendously guilty when Matsumoto's daughter kidnapped her.

He didn't expect to get more irritated with the Noah who stole her first kiss more than he'd liked to admit.

He didn't expect to secretly enjoy the outfit fitting sessions with her.

He didn't expect to actually come to care for her more deeply than a friend.

He didn't expect to go crazy when she ignored him.

He didn't expect to ever want someone to like him back.

He didn't expect to fall so _hard_ for her.

For this one person…

For her…

He could wait.

* * *

**Owari.**

I don't know why you guys want to see Kanda give Reiichi swimming lessons, but here you go XD Personally I was at a lost as to how to write it (therefore procrastinated until I realised it was quite a popular request), since Kanda would just sit by and watch idly as she swims her laps… I am sorry that my imagination sort of…_flew_ by itself. I swear I censored Kanda's thoughts as much as possible :D :D

But since Kanda didn't get much _action_ with Reiichi last chapter so….happy birthday to the birthday boy? :D

(I admit I totally wanted to end the fic on Kanda's birthday, just because it's a special day.)

* * *

**OKAY PLEASE READ THE BELOW EVEN IF YOU'RE THE TYPE TO SKIP AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS, BECAUSE IT IS IMPORTANT.**

Perhaps you've already read it, but I've decided to write the Allena fic which is named **Supernova** that will chart Allen's past to his failed confession to Lenalee.

And then although I _planned_ to write another KandaOC fic since months ago, you guys didn't want me to end this and I had such a _sad_ feeling when I thought of how I'd never be writing Reiichi anymore –she is practically my love child, I love her so much—so I decided to write a sequel.

You read it right.

A _sequel_.

I am actually quite hesitant to write a sequel because I may potentially ruin the story forever, but I think I'm going to try and see the response. The only thing I can say for sure is that Reiichi will design for Kanda again (after all, that's been the skeleton of this plot anyway—and yay to more weird outfits for Kanda to bitch about) and it will be _mature, _especially since Kanchi's physical relationship will need to grow. There will be Lulubell and Kanda history, and also Allena progression. And Lavi, well, he'll be, um, there. So. :D

Thus, THIS FIC IS OFFICIALLY **COMPLETED**.

I truly thank all of you who have read, reviewed, supported, rambled and fangirled with me throughout this incredibly LONG fic with increasingly LONG chapters (25 THOUSAND WORDS RECORD WTF?).

WE WILL MEET AGAIN. I PROMISE.

Love,

The author who brought you _Imitation Black_.

P.S. I did Kanchi fanart on DeviArt (DA link on my profile).

_28th July 2011 EDIT_

**Imitation Black** is now available in PDF for those who would like to read this story when there is no internet connection :D Credits go to **AcPa xox **for compiling all 842 pages. Download link is on my profile.

**Cantarella **the sequel is already published and in progress, so please continue the Kanchi journey with me!

* * *

To **Anemos** who asked about Reiichi's parents:

Her past is explained in chapter three, and there are vague hints in other chapters as well—her parents died in a car crash when it stormed, she's half-Japanese and so on. But I guess in the sequel she will talk to Kanda about her parents too yay.

To **exorcist** who requested a conflict with Lulubell:

I thought of that too, but a chapter to write that would be more than 25, 000 words. X| Better for it to be explained properly in the sequel, no?

To _everyone_ _else_ who is wondering about Lavi:

I don't have any special person planned for him yet D: (you must understand that his girl needs to be epic enough to withstand his awesomeness :D)

* * *

Q: _Why 'Imitation Black'?_

A: _Imitation_ is usually used for fake branded goods. _Black_ was supposed to represent the things unseen. In this case, Rei's designs were always never the best, or "branded", but her talent was only discovered after people has seen what it can do.

Or at least, that's how I reasoned it. :D


End file.
